


strawberry taffy

by dawons



Category: SF9 (Band)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Demons, Fluff and Angst, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Guardian Angel!Inseong, Guardian Angels, Heavy Angst, Human!Sanghyuk, Hwiyoung and Chanhee don't show up much in the beginning, Juho is also questionable, M/M, Non-Graphic Smut, Pining, Possible Character Death, Protective!Inseong, Seokjin guardian angel teas, Seokwoo's questionable, Taeyang is just trying, Wtf is Jaeyoon doing, Youngbin is trying his best, dont trust a hoe, non-tagged ships are not endgame, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2020-12-17 09:04:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21051818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dawons/pseuds/dawons
Summary: his kiss is sweet and masked by soft, velvet lips, and his body is warm and inviting against the ice water that rolls around his waist. inseong knows that it's everything he'd ever imagined, and knows it's just the type of thing that could get them both killed.





	1. prologue

_Death came slowly. _

_ Inseong felt the life leave his body, slipping through his skin as he took his final breaths. Cradled in the arms of the grim reaper, Inseong left his body, left the bloodied scene behind before waking up in a white room, pained and numb all at once. The feeling of a hole in his chest never left him, it was only dulled. If he focused, he could still hear the sounds of his life playing around him, like a movie in the background. He hears screaming, muddled through the white that fogs his consciousness._

_ Barely even halfway through his teenage years when his death came, the heavens pitied him. Unable to be determined a sinner, still considered a child, he was thrown into his second chance without any consultation on his part. Inseong was alone and cold, feeling timeless yet childish when he felt somebody wrap their arms around him from behind. _

_ “Your name is Inseong.”_

_ It hadn’t been his name when he was alive, but he could barely remember any of that. All he knows is pain, something twisting in his chest and head, and an absence where his memories should be. He nods, mouthing the name back to himself. _

_ His life melts from where it had been surrounding him before. The pain is gone, the screaming finally drowns in the white, and Inseong is left alone and numb._

“Ah… Please don’t.”

Inseong watches as the human he was tasked to watch over eyes his stove warily, before slamming his palm down against the burner, immediately screaming when it burns him. “Shit!”

“You knew it was still hot… You just turned it off a minute ago.”

Inseong knows that Sanghyuk can’t hear him; he’d never been able to. He sits idly on the other’s counter, kicking his legs absently. “I really wish you hadn’t done that.” He hums monotonously, watching as Sanghyuk drops to his knees, cradling his burned hand to his chest.

“That’s so fucking hot...” Sanghyuk whimpers, pressing his head to the floor as he sucks in a pained, sharp breath through his teeth. “_Oh_, fuck...”

In his third year of college, Sanghyuk clearly hadn’t learned much.

Inseong had been with him since he himself was sixteen and Sanghyuk was fourteen, and had helped the other much more than he’d expected he would. Sanghyuk must have been the dumbest person on the planet; running into traffic while chasing a rubber ball when he was fifteen, nearly cutting off his own hand while using a paper cutter in his art class when he was eighteen, and finally, jumping out of his bedroom window when he was nineteen to sneak out.

Inseong had prevented Sanghyuk’s demise those days in very separate ways. For the first one, he’d stopped three cars from moving at once, breaking their engines with the flick of his wrist, grabbing Sanghyuk with one arm before throwing him into the grass on the opposite side of the street while one car skidded as it shut down, stalling directly where Sanghyuk had been standing moments before.

For the second, he’d shoved his own hand under the blade, slicing it open while in turn holding it still directly above Sanghyuk’s knuckle, keeping his human in tact while tearing his own flesh to pieces.

Lastly, he’d just watched that one happen. Sanghyuk had fractured his ankle, but he deserved it. Inseong had protected him from countless other injuries; Sanghyuk deserved to have one that would keep him from doing something else reckless. It worked, as Sanghyuk hadn’t tried to sneak out again after the injury, but he’d also gained a sense of realizing that he _could_ get hurt through the accident. Inseong had babied him for far too long, and had given Sanghyuk the sense that he had immortality, or something akin to it. Sanghyuk, before the injury, was invincible. After it, however, he was human.

Clearly, he thought he was invincible again, if just for a moment, when he’d thrown his palm down against the stove. Inseong checks his nails, glancing down at the human who still whimpers on the floor, rocking back and forth as he clutches his fist. “You shouldn’t have done that...”

“I shouldn’t have done that...”

“Very good!” Inseong patronizes the other, jumping down off of the counter before beginning to walk away from the human. “You know, you really need to start taking care of yourself, I won’t always be here to protect you.” He lectures, knowing fully well that the other can’t see or hear him.

Though, he wishes he could.

Inseong was lonely, no friends or family to call his own. All he knew was the small group of guardian angels that had helped him figure out what he was doing; the only place he could call home was the small office across town, where guardian angels acted like normal people working normal jobs while their humans were tending to their own affairs. All of the others, however, had shown themselves to their human.

It made it easier for them to protect them. They acted like friends, sometimes teachers, and at one point Inseong had seen someone make their charge their worst enemy. Regardless, by being a significant role in the other’s life, it was easier to protect them.

On the other hand, Inseong was too nervous to introduce himself to Sanghyuk. He didn’t know how to, or what role he could play in the other’s life that would get through to Sanghyuk. The human was a loner, who didn’t care for friends and had moved away from his family when he’d begun attending college. There were no significant people in his life, and he didn’t seem to mind it at all. Sanghyuk practically thrived on silence and being unaccompanied, but he was unbeknownst to the fact that an angel hovered around him constantly, doting over him each and every day.

So, Inseong was, to Sanghyuk, a “ghost”. Sometimes he would move things around Sanghyuk’s apartment to see if he would notice, but he never did. Knowing that Sanghyuk wasn’t lonely, Inseong tried not to be as well, but it wasn’t easy.

“I’ll be going, so please don’t do anything else stupid, okay?” Inseong hums, smiling at the human who can’t see him. “No more touching the stove, Sanghyuk.”

“I’m so stupid...”

Inseong smiles faintly, crossing the room to Sanghyuk’s front door. He opens it softly, knowing that the other would be able to see or hear him interacting with objects around the house even if he couldn’t see Inseong himself. Today wasn’t one of the days Inseong wanted to convince Sanghyuk that his home was haunted, so he makes sure to shut the door as quietly as he can behind himself.

The walk to Inseong’s workplace isn’t long, as Sanghyuk lives on the verge of the forest and a small, secluded path down to the bay on the opposite side of the town. It leads to the open ocean, but Sanghyuk hated it there so Inseong never dared go. He was far too nervous to leave Sanghyuk alone for extended periods of time, anyway. Though, Inseong was slightly curious as to why the other hated water so much. He hadn’t been swimming for extended periods of time from what Inseong had seen, and he’d _definitely_ never gone alone. Inseong doesn’t mind it much, though. Something tells him that, though he can’t remember his own life before becoming a guardian angel, he didn’t like swimming much either.

Before long, Inseong finds his feet planted firmly on the sidewalk in front of the large, gloomy looking office that he had grown to hesitantly enjoy. When he steps through the front door, he finds himself fading back into existence, sighing softly as he stretches his arms above his head, groaning loudly when he twists them around until one of his shoulders cracks loudly, obnoxiously. He’d been told before that being hidden didn’t feel like anything, but Inseong had found the statement to be a lie. His body was always tight after he faded back into sight, his muscles tense and uncomfortable.

Being visible was far more comfortable, but Inseong was only able to experience it when he was at the office, which in itself was rare. He was _always_ with Sanghyuk, worrying himself down to an exhausted, emotional wreck after having to watch the other all day. Inseong was lucky if Sanghyuk didn’t do at least five stupid things a day, but doing anything less than that was rare. Inseong counted those days as special occasions.

Inseong quickly ascends the stairs next to the empty reception desk, almost running into the small room that sits alone at the top of the stairs. He pushes the door open, looking around to see who else was around before he makes his way to the desk furthest away from himself, pushed tightly in the corner.

“Inseong,” a brunette calls from across the room, “it’s been a while.”

“Seokjin!” Inseong smiles, greeting the other with a small wave, “good to see you again.”

Seokjin was the archangel in charge of the small group of guardian angels that found themselves in the small town. He was one of the few who had been able to successfully see over a hundred humans to meet their fate, watching over them until their stories ended. Inseong had only ever known Sanghyuk, and felt odd knowing that there would be someone else after him.

He didn’t like thinking about it. The thought of Sanghyuk being gone… Inseong shivers. He didn’t know when Sanghyuk was supposed to die, but all he knew was that when fate finally finished writing itself for the human, he would be informed. And, if his last day was the next one, he would be forced to watch as whatever happened would happen, and then he would reap his soul.

Inseong had never felt comfortable with the thought, but those were the rules. If he refused to listen to them, his status as a guardian angel would be revoked and he would be forced to live in the nothingness between life and death. There, corruption wormed its way through each living being until it finally took over them, causing them to go insane. No matter how many times they killed, the victim would always wake back up, body restored and completely prepared to be torn apart again until their time would come to be corrupted.

Only once before had Inseong been tasked to enter purgatory; it was as a punishment for not taking his job seriously, for making a joke out of how he was supposed to watch Sanghyuk.

In the moments he’d been in the gray, dull wasteland, he’d watched a creature with long, twisting nails and yellow eyes tear a woman’s heart out.

“You look stressed,” Seokjin notes, raising his eyebrows, “are you sleeping alright?”

Inseong falls into his seat, glancing up at the other. He smiles, waving the other off nervously. “I’m okay. Sanghyuk’s been staying up pretty late recently, so I have been too...” As if on cue, he raises his hand to his mouth to cover a yawn, an embarrassed look crossing his face when he drops his hand back onto his lap.

Seokjin locks his hands together in front of his mouth, elbows resting on the desk underneath him. His glasses rest idly on his nose, the large, circular frames of them making his eyes appear larger, more innocent though he’d personally torn bone from body in front of tens of angels, all while not blinking as the angel being revoked screamed underneath him, writhing and begging for him to stop.

Being revoked wasn’t just about being thrown into purgatory; it was about the humiliation as well.

When an angel is revoked, their wings and eyes are torn from their body by the highest ranking angel in the area. Usually, this meant an archangel, and that meant Seokjin. Inseong had only seen one guardian be revoked; an angel given the name Chanhee, who had fallen in love with the human he had been assigned to. Thankfully, he hadn’t told the human that he was an angel, and he didn’t have to kill him.

Seokjin smiles faintly, the corners of his eyes crinkling behind his spectacles. “You should get out more often, make some friends. Sanghyuk is a grown man, you shouldn’t baby him so much. He can get by fine for a few hours; take care of yourself first.”

“You’d be surprised...” Inseong murmurs, leaning back in his seat. “He’s not the brightest.”

Seokjin shrugs, turning his attention back to the computer in front of himself on his desk. “Whatever.”

Inseong glances at the desktop on his own desk, turning it on after deciding he had no paperwork to fill out since Sanghyuk hadn’t recently been in any life threatening accidents (thank God). Inseong leans back as he waits for the computer to load up, closing his eyes as he listens to the familiar pulse in his ear.

Sanghyuk’s heartbeat is calm, slow and relaxed. Inseong assumes that the other must have fallen asleep from how calm it seems, and takes a deep breath. He was nervous, but decided that Sanghyuk would be fine, and logged onto his computer.

The office was mainly a place for the angels to gather and converse about their humans, or to review the rules of being a guardian. Not much work besides that was ever done, since most of it was done simply just by watching over the angels’ respective human.

Inseong sighs, closing his eyes again. Tired, he brings his head down, resting it against his desk for what he assumes will only be for a moment. Though, with Sanghyuk’s pulse calmly drumming in his ears, he’s lulled to sleep in the quiet office, his slow breaths near silent against the rapid clicking of Seokjin’s keyboard.

.


	2. wake up

“Hey...”

Inseong frowns, pulling his arms tighter around his head to keep the noise out. The noise clearly dislikes this, and becomes louder, leaning down closer to the blonde. “_Hey_!”

“No...” Inseong scrunches his eyes shut tighter, hoping he’ll be able to fall back asleep before he suddenly realizes he hears a loud, uncomfortably quickened pulse in the back of his head. Instantly, he shoots upwards, panicked as he looks around the room to remember where he is.

The office is empty, the lights off. The only other person stands in front of him with his hands on his hips, frowning as he stares down at Inseong. “You know, you should really be getting home. It’s late.”

“Taehyung, you scared me!” Inseong stands up, dusting off his jeans before he looks up to the other. “Actually… Why are you here? Since when do you come in?”

“Since I forgot some papers on taking care of a human. Now leave, I need to lock the place up.”

“Ah… Sorry.” Inseong bites his lip, slipping around his desk before making his way to the exit of the small room. All he can focus on is the worryingly fast pulse that belongs to Sanghyuk, and he practically runs down the stairs on his way out of the building.

The sky is dark, dotted with stars above Inseong when he steps out of the darkness cast by the office building. The moon hangs low that night, bright and full as it watches over the town sleepily. Inseong doesn’t have time to admire how it looks, too worried about Sanghyuk to care.

The path to Sanghyuk’s home is familiar, seared in Inseong’s memory sharply. Every turn, every fork in the road, Inseong skirts over them without a second thought, the night air cold on his body as he runs anxiously to the human he’d sworn to protect. “Why did I fall asleep...” He whispers, stumbling as he turns down the road to Sanghyuk’s home.

The pulse in his head grows faster the closer Inseong comes to the home, and he barely remembers to stay quiet when he bursts inside, narrowly avoiding slamming the door off of the wall. He doesn’t shut it behind himself, instead darts upstairs to find Sanghyuk, panicked as he looks from room to room.

Sanghyuk’s bedroom door is shut, and Inseong doesn’t care as he forces it open, causing the human to gasp from where he’s laying on his bed. He sits up quickly, his hand darting over to grab the TV remote on the pillow beside him. Inseong looks around while Sanghyuk investigates the suddenly open door. Nothing seems out of place, and Inseong sighs in relief when he sees the TV paused on some horror movie.

“Fuck...” He whispers, sitting on the edge of the other’s bed. “You scared me, you know.”

“What the fuck?” Sanghyuk is standing in front of the door, eyeing the now destroyed lock that had been in place above the doorknob before. “How...”

Inseong bites his lip, guiltily standing up to look at the lock beside Sanghyuk. “My bad.” He murmurs, his arm brushing Sanghyuk’s as he turns to walk away. The human only stills, turning to stare in Inseong’s direction. For a brief moment, the angel fears that he had accidentally faded back into reality, but Sanghyuk’s face shows no recognition. There’s only a pure, unfiltered fear as he stares through Inseong.

“Shit...” He whispers, taking a step back towards his bedroom door, lowering his gaze to the floor. “I’m just freaking myself out. Must’ve been that fucking movie...”

Inseong watches Sanghyuk leave, only to stop in his tracks when he sees the front door wide open. He takes a shuddering breath, looking around slowly. “Is anyone in here?”

When no answer comes, Sanghyuk shuts his door and locks it. “Good enough for me,” he muses, considering the silence as an affirmation that nobody else was in his home. Inseong sighs, wishing that the human would at least look around before he walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind himself. The lock clicks into place, which leaves Inseong curious, as the other never seemed to lock the door.

The shower turns on a few moments later, and Inseong sighs as he walks into the living room, collapsing onto the couch.

“Shit.”

He’s now positive that Sanghyuk believes the home is haunted. He’d made small noises before, boredom leading him to scare the human slightly, but he’d never wanted to make him feel like this. The other’s pulse still beats anxiously in the back of Inseong’s mind, and he can almost taste the fear in the air that filters through the home.

Inseong closes his eyes, laying back on the couch as he hopes that Sanghyuk will just forget about tonight. He would chalk it up to an odd occurrence, he was sure of it.

* * *

Inseong follows Sanghyuk to his class the next morning, keeping a safe distance between the both of them as they walk. The college was a beautiful building, marble and white slate building up the walls and pillars that held up an arching, crystal-like overhang. It looked like a pearl, a secret gem hidden in the center of the town.

Sanghyuk, however, looks horrible.

He clearly hadn’t slept much. His body’s swallowed by a black hoodie, his sweatpants tucked into his boots. Each inch of skin he covers except for his face, but even that’s hard to see from under his hood. Inseong had heard him up late that night, and when he’d gone to check on him he’d seen the human researching paranormal experiences and how to handle ghosts. Half of him wanted to laugh, the other wanted to curl up in defeat.

Sanghyuk pushes through the college’s front doors silently, passing through the small crowds of gossiping students like a ghost. Nobody pays him attention, and he doesn’t give them any time, either. Inseong feels bad for him, silently wondering if he’s lonely but just extremely good at hiding it.

His bag hangs low on his shoulders, and Inseong notices that the zipper is undone on the side of it. He hopes nothing had fallen out, or that nothing will, as he follows blindly after the other.

They walk to Sanghyuk’s class, and the human falls into his seat the moment he can, putting his head down on the smooth desk. Inseong sits in the empty seat next to him, stretching his arms upwards before he leans forward, mocking Sanghyuk’s position.

Almost silently, Sanghyuk snores as he falls asleep. He’s snapped out of it, though, when somebody gently taps his arm, causing his heart rate to spike for a moment. Inseong’s head shoots up, and with wild eyes he tries to pinpoint the cause of Sanghyuk’s nerves. Though, upon seeing it’s just another student in his class, he relaxes slowly as he watches their interaction.

“Sorry,” the boy smiles, eyes soft as he looks at Sanghyuk, “but I just wanted to give this to you.” He holds up Sanghyuk’s notebook, setting it gently on his desk. “You dropped it when you were coming in, or I hope it was you who did… I kind of got lost in the crowd, so if this isn’t yours, do you know who it might belong to?”

“It’s mine.” Sanghyuk murmurs, smiling at the other tiredly. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” The boy turns to leave, but before he does he turns back to Sanghyuk. “My name’s Seokwoo,” he hums, giving a slight wave, “I hope I’ll see you around again.”

Before Sanghyuk can respond, the other walks away. Inseong catches the way Sanghyuk’s gaze lingers on the stranger, how his eyes glimmer with excitement from the short interaction. Inseong doesn’t blame the other; Seokwoo _was_ attractive, with styled black hair and long legs, and a clear fashion taste unlike Sanghyuk, he could easily be the center in any room at any given time. His voice was soothing to listen to, and Inseong silently hopes that Sanghyuk will befriend the other so he’ll be able to hear it more often.

The rest of Sanghyuk’s class is boring. Inseong watches the human drift off to sleep once and for all five minutes into the lecture, and Inseong follows his lead. His professor’s voice was droning and yet oddly soothing, it was one of the most exhausting sounds Inseong had ever heard. He lays his head on the desk, turning to watch Sanghyuk before closing his own eyes for a while.

But something about Seokwoo unsettled Inseong, and as he mulled over this thought, he was kept awake.

Part of him feels that Seokwoo had been looking at him. When he spoke to Sanghyuk, he seemed to direct his attention to the seat next to the human as well, as if addressing he and another. Inseong was sure they’d made eye contact at least once, but he tries to push down the thought. It wasn’t possible; he hadn’t felt anything when Seokwoo approached. The other hadn’t initiated the near-silent greeting to show that they were the same. Seokwoo was _human_, and so he couldn’t have seen Inseong.

Yet, it felt like it.

Maybe it was Inseong hoping, though. That’s what he chalks it up to; he was just excited that somebody had finally paid Sanghyuk attention besides himself, and he got carried away.

The lesson draws towards a close rather slowly. Inseong counts the seconds out with one hand, getting up to five before dropping his fingers into a fist before starting on the next five. Sanghyuk doesn’t stir next to him, just keeps his head down with his eyes closed as his instructor mumbles on with the lesson, something about design and structure that Inseong can barely wrap his head around. He had a high school junior’s level of education; this school was far too much for him. He didn’t understand any of what was said in any of Sanghyuk’s courses, but he did have fun watching his human get excited over programming and coding.

Inseong looks to Sanghyuk adoringly, smiling softly. He was proud of the other, even if he did stupid shit most of the time. He was smart in different areas; he just lacked basic common sense.

When the class finally begins to end and students rise from their seats, chatting loudly with each other, Sanghyuk stays asleep. He snores softly, nestling his head farther into the crook of his elbow as he tries to keep himself warm from the sudden burst of cold air from the classroom door swinging open. Inseong smiles, reaching over to gently push the other’s hand. The sudden contact makes Sanghyuk jump, and he looks around with confusion written on his face as he tries to see who had woken him up.

Inseong laughs into his hand, silencing the sound with his knuckle as he watches the other’s bewildered expression fade into one of nonchalance. “Well,” Sanghyuk shrugs, “alright.” He reaches down, grabbing his bag before slinging it over his shoulder.

Before he can even stand up, his professor calls out to him.

“Mr. Lee, I hope you’ll be attending our meeting tonight?”

“Meeting...” Sanghyuk murmurs thoughtfully, trying to hide that he’d been sleeping all of the period. “Could you just remind me what time it’ll be?”

“I saw you sleeping,” the older man raises his eyebrows, “and I do wish you would pay more attention in class.”

Sanghyuk bites his lip, bowing his head slightly with shame. “I’m sorry, sir.”

The professor wasn’t an unkind man. He shakes his head, and Inseong can tell he’s smiling though his graying beard covers his mouth. “There’s no need for that. I know you must be tired, you’re taking quite a few courses this semester.”

“Ah...” Sanghyuk flushes, not wanting to agree yet at the same time feeling awkward that his teacher had paid so much attention to him to know something like that. “I guess so...” Embarrassment pushes him to scuff the toe of his shoe on the ground, and he folds and unfolds his fingers together from where they rest on the desk in front of himself.

“Make sure you’re sleeping enough, and if you’re too tired to attend the meeting, I’ll give you a pass just this once.” The man hums, turning to dig around on his desk. He grabs a piece of paper and continues to search through the clutter of objects scattered on his desk before realizing his pen was tucked behind his ear, and grabs it enthusiastically. He writes something down quickly on the sheet, and walks it over to Sanghyuk’s desk. “Here’s what you need to know.”

“I owe you one...” Sanghyuk grins, jumping when the professor’s hand falls onto his shoulder.

“Go get some rest, Mr. Lee.”

“Thank you.”

When Sanghyuk leaves, he seems lighter on his feet than he did earlier that day. Inseong watches the other contentedly, but grows shocked when the other smiles and greets a girl he’d never spoken to before as he leaves the college and she enters it. Sanghyuk seems shocked, too, and stops in his tracks for a moment before he shrugs it off, continuing on his way home.

He clutches the paper he’d been given tightly, crumpling it slightly in his hand. \

“Hey, you!”

Inseong turns before Sanghyuk does, seeing a familiar, tall, dark haired man standing nearby. He has his earbuds thrown over his shoulder, and his outfit’s almost completely changed from earlier. He has an orange beanie on with a flannel, and sweats cover his legs, which had earlier been protected by jeans. His skin has a glisten to it, and Inseong sees his sleeves are wet. The only conclusion he can draw is that the other had been in the water recently.

“Oh… Seokwoo, right?” Sanghyuk smiles politely, acting oblivious though Inseong _knows_ the other remembered Seokwoo. “What’s up?”

Seokwoo smiles, walking over to the other. He stuffs his hands in his pockets, and when he stops in front of Sanghyuk, Inseong smells chlorine. _Swim team._ Inseong had heard somebody talking about it before, and the other has an athletic build; he wouldn’t be surprised if the other was on one of the college’s many sports teams. “I was just getting out of practice,” he hums, “remembered you from this morning.”

“Oh, yeah,” Sanghyuk laughs, a slight fluster making his voice tremble, “thank you for that, by the way… I can’t remember if I thanked you this morning, I’m sorry.”

“What? Don’t apologize. You’re fine!” Seokwoo’s friendly enough for Inseong to like him. “I would’ve felt awful if I didn’t try getting your book back to you.”

Before Sanghyuk can thank him again, Seokwoo cuts him off. “Want to grab a coffee or something? None of my friends want to…” He pouts, and Inseong catches the way Sanghyuk’s breath hitches.

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Inseong stares with shocked eyes at Sanghyuk, who adds a quiet, “that would be nice...”

“Great! I know this amazing place, you’ll love it.”

Seokwoo reaches down and seizes Sanghyuk’s hand, immediately dragging him off. Inseong runs after them, hearing Sanghyuk’s pulse quicken as Seokwoo holds onto him. It’s not fear; Inseong has that pulse memorized. He’d forced himself to react to the sound of that pulse the moment Sanghyuk had begun to have night terrors in his senior year of high school.

He’d closed himself off that year. He barely spoke to anybody, and with all of the advanced classes he’d been taking so he could attend a nice college, he had no free time. He locked himself in his room for nights on end, studying and reading textbooks as if they were novels. He rarely slept, and when he did the stress from his day would give him nightmare after nightmare.

The most vivid memory Inseong has is of the night when Sanghyuk tried to drug himself in hopes that he’d sleep better. He’d taken four different sleep medications, which all failed him. He woke up screaming, but nobody was home since he’d declined going on a family vacation so he could, not surprisingly, study.

Inseong had grabbed him, but Sanghyuk didn’t react to the ghost arms holding him down, and instead started to cry. He sobbed for what seemed like hours, and Inseong held him through it, brushing his hair back with his hands worriedly as the other cried into his pillows.

He never brought up the experience to anyone, but Inseong feels that Sanghyuk always remembered it. Sanghyuk often spoke to himself as if somebody else was listening after that experience, but he’d never once seemed afraid or acted as if he was haunted. Inseong wonders if the other had forgotten now, and that the previous night had just drudged up bad memories for him.

But regardless, Sanghyuk’s pulse shows no fear. It’s excitement, and maybe even a twinge of happiness that makes his footsteps even lighter on the ground as Seokwoo pulls him along down the street.

“Hey, I don’t know your name.” Seokwoo states bluntly, slowing to a walk as he breaks his hand from Sanghyuk’s.

“Oh! It’s Sanghyuk.”

“I like it.” Seokwoo nods thoughtfully, grinning. “Sanghyuk.” He tries it out, nodding again. “I like it a lot.”

The compliment makes Sanghyuk’s cheeks darken, and he looks bashfully towards the ground. Seokwoo catches the expression, laughing at how the other grew embarrassed so easily. “You’re so cute!”

“Don’t say things like that!” Sanghyuk cries, raising his hands to hide his face. “You’re like my mom...”

Seokwoo smiles, stuffing his hands back into his pockets as he walks. Sanghyuk still holds tightly to his paper, but follows the others lead and lowers his hands into his pockets as well.

The rest of their walk is silent, but it’s nothing close to uncomfortable. Sanghyuk seems liberated, head slowly raising to be held high as he walks next to Seokwoo in the cool fall air. Inseong can’t help but stare at Seokwoo. He looks like a model, and with his long legs and confident pace, he could easily pass as one.

They arrive soon after in front of a bookstore, and Seokwoo opens the door for Sanghyuk.

“I thought we were getting coffee,” Sanghyuk murmurs as he steps inside, and Seokwoo waves his hand quickly to try to fight the other’s confusion.

“There’s a bakery inside! They have coffee there, it’s nice.” He steps inside after Sanghyuk, and Inseong follows quickly to avoid having the door slammed on him.

The two find a table at the small parlor on the other side of the room, and Seokwoo takes his and Sanghyuk’s orders to the counter to get their drinks. Inseong sits at the empty table besides Sanghyuk’s, looking to the human. “Well, he seems nice.” He muses, and Sanghyuk sighs quietly.

“What did I get myself into...”

* * *

That night, Sanghyuk sleeps through his meeting.

Inseong doesn’t blame him. Any sort of social interaction drained straight through Sanghyuk, and so when he got home from the bookstore, he collapsed on his bed and fell instantly asleep. The angel lays next to him, drifting in and out of sleep as the other does.

The light from outside shines in through the windows softly, a pale yellow light filling the room as the sun begins to set later that night. The shadow of the trees outside cast low on Sanghyuk’s floor, swaying from the wind that berates them. It was a nice day, and Inseong finds the warm bed underneath him soothing while outside the cold grew more unforgiving. He would likely skip going to the office tonight; he would much rather sleep.

Sanghyuk had put him into a lazy mood, and so when he doesn’t make any attempt to move when the sun finally sets and the home grows dark from the lack of light inside, Inseong is satisfied. He turns to make sure Sanghyuk’s asleep before he slips underneath the blankets, burying his face into the pillows as he tries to drift off as Sanghyuk does so easily. Though, it proves difficult, and he instead reaches over and brushes Sanghyuk’s hair back gently.

The darker haired boy murmurs something in his sleep, drawing himself closer to the angel as he pushes his head farther against his hand. Inseong pouts, raising a hand to cover his mouth at the sudden affection the other was showing him. _That’s so fucking cute_.

Part of Inseong feels bad about not waking the other up for his meeting, but another part of him doesn’t care. He deserved to get a good night of rest, he worked too hard to not sleep.

Inseong pulls his hand away hesitantly, pulling the blankets up around himself as he closes his eyes. Sanghyuk lets out a soft, disapproving grumble before he rolls over, facing towards the wall instead of Inseong. The blonde sighs, smiling slightly as he hears the other’s sleeping tantrum, burying his face into the pillow as he begins to fall asleep.


	3. demanding my mind be set free

Sanghyuk stays home from his classes the next day.

Outside it rains heavily, roughly, and the wind berates his home angrily. Inseong hadn’t felt right since he’d woken up, an anxiety without a proper cause digs through his chest playfully, teasing his heart with a fast, unruly pulse. He lays back on Sanghyuk’s bed, tracing his fingers absently over his chest as he tries to calm himself down.

Sanghyuk, on the other hand, seems absolutely fine. He works on the assignments he’d been given that day, after finding them buried underneath a mound of spam emails that he’d directed into his school’s account. He seemed happy, almost, unable to keep himself still as he drummed his pencil against his laptop, coming up with yet another topic for an argumentative essay due in one of his classes. Inseong didn’t keep up much with the other’s work, knowing that he’d get it done regardless of if he was pushed to or not.

The human hums something absently, pursing his lips as he opened up a new browser. Inseong glances over, completely expecting him to be looking up new prompts for the essay, but instead finds him searching for his college’s team rosters.

He scrolls until he reaches the swim team, hesitates, then hits the bright pink _Expand _button that sits underneath the basic description of the team, alongside a picture of somebody cutting effortlessly through the water. “This is stupid...” He murmurs, but continues searching through the page until he hits a block of pictures of the many members of the team. “Youngbin… Jackson… Youngkyun...” He winces, as if the next name embarrasses him to the point of pain, “Seokwoo...”

Though, he continues to look through the labeled pictures, seeming to scroll past each that doesn’t include Seokwoo. “What am I doing...”

Inseong raises his eyebrows, unimpressed with the other’s abandonment of his homework. “You have other things to be doing right now,” he notes, “why are you so concerned with him...”

“He...” Sanghyuk pouts, closing out of the tab. “Agh!” He cries, bringing his hands up to rake angrily through his hair. “I can’t let him distract me...” Black strands fall into his eyes messily; it had been growing longer lately, it suited Sanghyuk well. Inseong sighs, leaning back as he watches the other go back to his essay.

He doesn’t know why Seokwoo bothered him suddenly. Before, he had liked the idea of Sanghyuk branching out and getting new friends, yet now that he had one, Inseong didn’t find himself all too happy about the development. He chalks it up to a lack of trust for Seokwoo, and pushes down the thought that he’s jealous.

Seokwoo seemed nice, but there was something about him Inseong didn’t like. He had s

“This essay sucks.” Sanghyuk sighs, picking up his phone before beginning to aimlessly swipe through his music app. “Alright demons,” he glances up to survey the room around himself, “hope you like modern rock.” He selects a playlist, and turns his phone off as his music begins playing. Inseong recognizes the song immediately. It was one that Sanghyuk often played, singing the lyrics to it easily, as if he was born knowing each verse.

Inseong stands, sighing. “I’m going to the office.” He informs the other, who isn’t even aware of Inseong’s presence.

Outside is cold. Inseong makes sure to leave as silently as he can, the door begging to swing shut behind him with the wind. He refuses to allow it to, though, and guides it softly with his hand as he shuts it. The wind pushes him back towards the home, but he battles through it to get to the town.

The rain is cold, droplets splashing down on Inseong’s skin from the trees above. He runs, taking the cold air around him into his lungs before exhaling it shakily, cutting through the forest quickly in hopes to get to the office sooner. Part of him wishes he’d stolen one of Sanghyuk’s jackets that had been hanging up behind the front door, but at the same time he’s relieved he didn’t. He couldn’t give the other any more reason to believe his house was haunted.

The streets are empty, and Inseong crosses them easily as he runs from the border of the forest to the town. He continues through the maze of empty sidewalks and buildings until he finally reaches the large, intimidating building that normal people often grow confused over. He’d often heard people discussing its purposes in passing in front of the doors, his favorite of the many possibilities being that it was an animation studio. He doesn’t know what it is about the idea of being an artist, but it’s preferable to his current life.

He can’t help but hate his job. He loved Sanghyuk, knew every day that there’s nobody else he’d rather be a guardian to, yet… One day, he’ll watch Sanghyuk die. He’ll bring his soul to judgment, and Inseong’s terrified for it. After he loses Sanghyuk, he’ll have to take up guarding a new human as if the loss of the prior didn’t affect him.

Though, it shouldn’t. This is his job; he shouldn’t be concerned with losing a human who doesn’t even know he exists.

He walks into the building, passing the empty front desk before ascending the stairs.

“You’re soaked.” Seokjin states bluntly when Inseong steps into the office.

“Thanks, I know.” Inseong smiles, raising his arms above his head as he stretches. “Sanghyuk’s busy, and he isn’t leaving the house today… Didn’t feel right so I decided to come here.”

Seokjin glances up from his desk, sliding his glasses up his nose with a finger. “You don’t feel good?”

“Well… I’m not sick,” Inseong hums, walking over to his desk before he reaches down, opening up the bottom drawer where he kept spare clothes. “So don’t worry. I just… I don’t know, I have anxiety but I don’t know why.” He shrugs, pulling out a white sweater and light jeans. “I’m gonna go change.”

“Have fun,” Seokjin snorts, leaning back in his seat as he clicks his keyboard idly. Inseong assumes he’s playing some video game or another; he always seemed to be raving about those.

Inseong walks across the room, opening the only other door besides the exit. It leads to a small bathroom, and he steps inside before shutting the door softly behind himself. He peels his clothes off, shivering in the air of the A/C when it blows against his bare skin. “Shit...” He murmurs, setting his soaked clothes on the floor before he picks up the sweater he’d brought inside with him, sliding it over his head. It messes his hair up, but that had already been done by the rain, and it now hangs down in wet strands in front of his eyes. He brushes them back absently, pulling his sweats off before sliding into the jeans.

He eyes himself in the dirty mirror across from himself, cocking his neck to the side at the sight of the dark circles underneath his eyes. He looks horrible. “God,” he remarks, reaching up to pull the skin under his eyes down, exposing the whites of his eyes dramatically. Dark red lines drift across the white aimlessly, bloodshot and angry. Inseong drops his hand, groaning. “I look like shit.”

Grabbing his wet clothes, Inseong tosses them in the hamper behind the door. Seokjin had often said that everyone should keep spare clothes in their desk; just in case they had to spend a long time in the office, and that he would take any dirty clothes to the laundromat down the street if he needed to. Inseong appreciates the service the archangel was providing, especially now that he was personally benefiting from it. He makes a mental note to thank the other before he leaves for the night, whenever the rain was to stop.

He leaves the bathroom, running his hands through his hair. Seokjin pauses whatever he’s doing on his computer, instead reaching down to occupy himself with a stack of papers. Inseong eyes the flashing green light on his own computer monitor curiously as he walks back to his desk.

When he sits back down, he reaches down and grabs the computer mouse, humming quietly as he checks the computer for whatever was causing the blinking light.

_Fate_. He muses, noticing the sudden text file opened on the taskbar of the computer. He clicks on it, ignoring what was previously written, before he begins to scroll towards the bottom. He had heard rumors that fate would continue to change itself each day, slight differences appearing every so often.

Part of him is nervous to read through the other’s life so carelessly, but another part of him is excited, curious as to what’s in store for the human, and what he’ll need to protect him from. He taps his fingers on the desk idly as he jumps past where Sanghyuk currently is, scrunches his nose up when he reads that Sanghyuk will fall in love rather soon, and sighs when he realizes that the pages didn’t continue for long.

Most of what would occur was simple. On this day, Sanghyuk will skip class, and on this day he’ll make another friend. It’s trivial, and Inseong doesn’t find it as interesting as he should. Sanghyuk’s life seemed overall boring when the facts and details of it were laid out right in front of Inseong.

Though, when Inseong comes to a blank page, he raises his eyebrows suspiciously, clicking around on it for a moment. When he sees that he can continue to scroll, he does so slowly, not wanting to miss anything in case it appeared on the screen suddenly.

On the last line of the page, a simple sentence is written. Inseong reads it before he can even run his eyes over it, identifying each word too quickly for his own comfort. It leaves his stomach twisting, nausea creeping up on him violently as his hands begin to shake. He tries to open his mouth to say something, but his lips feel glued shut, and his tongue refuses to move from where it’s locked against his teeth.

**SANGHYUK WILL DIE IN SEVEN DAYS.**

His heart races, and he supposes this is the cause of his sudden anxiety. He places his palms on his desk, swallowing thickly before attempting to stand. He wants to leave, wants to quit his job and never have to see Sanghyuk again.

The image of a young Sanghyuk, ankle broken after jumping from his window, plays in Inseong’s memory. Nineteen, stupid, hurt but still smiling through the pain and the tears that build in his eyes, unaware of what would come in his near future.

“I don’t...” Inseong whispers, falling back into his seat before he brings his hands to his eyes. “No… No...” He doesn’t cry. He feels numb, completely immune to any feeling other than dread. In a week, he would watch Sanghyuk die. In a week, he would finally meet Sanghyuk, and he would have to kill him for a second time to reap his soul.

“You okay?” Seokjin hums, glancing at the other from where he sits behind his own desk. “You sick?”

Inseong lies, nodding as he closes the Fate file. It was odd, how the angels’ activities were all digital, but he isn’t able to think much into it. Or, maybe he wants to, and he wants to forget about his current situation by realizing how odd his whole being was. Either way, he couldn’t let Seokjin know why he was so shocked. If Seokjin knew that Inseong felt something deeper for Sanghyuk, though the angel hated to admit to his feelings, then it would lead for him to be revoked. He bites his lip, looking away from the computer as he clutches his hands together in front of his mouth.

“Sick.” He agrees, keeping his fear for Sanghyuk hidden behind the front of an illness.

“The rain looks like it’s stopping,” Seokjin notes, “maybe you should head home and get some sleep?”

Inseong fakes a smile, trembling as he stands. He catches himself on the edge of his desk before his knees give out, and he holds himself up with a shaking arm. “Yeah, good idea. I’ll see you.” He mumbles, stumbling as he walks away.

When he reaches the stairs, the office door swinging shut behind himself, a numbness floods over his body. He walks down the stairs feeling as if he’s floating, and the sound of his steps in the empty room that greets him after the stairs are silent in his ears though they’re often loud on the linoleum floors.

Outside, the pavement is wet and the road is covered in puddles. The rain had stopped, though, and the wind seemed to have disappeared with it. Inseong wonders when it had happened, and looks up to the sky to see black bleeding through the cloud covering.

He stops at a red light, waiting for it to turn green though the road is empty.

A man leans against the pole next to him, a cigarette hanging from his lips. Inseong looks to him, feeling an overwhelming sadness lift from the other’s skin. It halts his own pain, and he’s thrown into guardian mode though he’d never met the man before in his life.

He must be much younger than Sanghyuk; his hair is dyed blue, and he doesn’t wear a jacket though the air is still rather cold. His clothes are revealing; black fishnets underneath torn white jeans, a black tee shirt tucked messily into them. His nails are also black, the acrylic shining with the red light glinting on the two from the other side of the street.

Inseong feels that their pain is shared, and doesn’t move when the light turns green. The other seems to finally notice him, pulling his cigarette from his lips slowly before blowing out the smoke. It fogs the air around his head, making a halo around him before being swept away by the night air.

“Problem?” He starts, but Inseong sees that it’s a front.

“Why are you out here?”

The question makes the boy still, and for a moment the hardness melts from his face. He looks like a child for a flicker of a second, but it freezes quickly. “Why do you care?”

“Because you’re unhappy.” Inseong murmurs, and the other waits for him to continue with bated breath. Inseong never does, though, and the other raises his cigarette back to his mouth before he shrugs.

“Not your problem if I’m fucking miserable or not. I could be in a great mood, why should it concern you?”

“Don’t know.” Inseong turns away, the light flashing red across from them again. It holds Inseong there, now keeping him locked in the interaction until it turns green once more. “Maybe I just care too much, maybe I just need a distraction.”

The other seems to perk up at the last sentence. “Yeah? Well, what’s your name?”

“You don’t need to know that. Yours?”

“Zuho.”

Inseong smiles, though it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Doesn’t sound real.”

“Well, I can’t just give my real name out to a potential customer, can I?” Zuho flashes the same smile to Inseong, and once again a connection forms between them before it’s broken by the other’s next sentence. “So, what are you looking for?”

“I’m sorry?”

“You want a distraction?” Zuho drops the cigarette again, blowing out another breath of smoke before raising it back to his cherry lips, holding it in front of them as he speaks. “Or, are you not asking me to fuck you?”

“I...” Inseong shakes his head quickly, “that’s not what I was getting at.”

“Oh,” Zuho smirks, placing the white stick between his teeth, “well, good. I’m waiting for someone specific, I really didn’t want to waste my night on you.”

Inseong likes the other’s attitude. It’s enough to keep his mind off of Sanghyuk, who can’t not be sleeping from the slowness of his pulse. He tries not to think about seven days from then, seven days from this moment on the curb with Zuho.

The light flickers green. Inseong continues to stand with the other.

“Who are you waiting for?”

“Some lady, I guess.” He shrugs. “I don’t know much about it, I just know what she likes.”

“You’re okay living like this?” Inseong murmurs, and Zuho raises his eyebrows. “I mean, it’s not my place, but you don’t seem happy.”

“I’m uncomfortable, sure,” Zuho retorts, though his voice is nothing short of quiet. There’s no aggression in them, or in his tone. “I’m not used to work like this. I’m used to quick shit, you know? I’ve never…” He laughs, raising his hands slightly in a dismissive motion. “You know, I’ve never worked the street.”

“So why are you?”

“Honest?”

Inseong nods. Zuho laughs. “I’m a hitman.” When the blonde doesn’t appear phased, Zuho raises an eyebrow as he looks over to the pole, stamping his cigarette out against it. “I was expecting a bigger reaction than that. Makes me think you’re something much worse. So, what is it? You waiting for another car to pull up so you can shove me in the trunk or something?”

“Nothing like that.” Inseong murmurs. “I’m not human.”

It’s all he has to say to grab the other’s attention. Zuho seems surprised, but he plays it off smoothly as he reaches into his pocket, pulling out a box of cigarettes before grabbing another out. He twirls it around his slender fingers as he slides the box back into his jeans, instead pulling out a lighter. He offers the cigarette to Inseong after it’s lit, but the angel waves it off politely. Zuho keeps it between his fingers for a moment to finally respond to the other. “I’ll believe it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he shrugs, “you’ve got a dead look in your eyes.”

The observation makes Inseong laugh. “That’s what you’re basing your trust in me off of?” He remarks, crossing his arms. The side of Zuho’s face glows red when the light changes, once again keeping Inseong stuck to the street. Though, he doesn’t hate it. He enjoys the other’s company; he enjoys knowing he isn’t the only one holding back a dark, overwhelming pain. Though, Zuho was much better at hiding it than he is.

He doesn’t realize that this is the first time he’s interacted with a human that has actually seen him until Zuho meets his gaze, eyes locking against the other’s. “You have no idea whose eyes I have looked into.” He murmurs, his voice low as he speaks. “I’ve watched people die for years, watched the life leave them. First, they’re full of emotion, but you wait and they just...” He raises the cigarette, unable to hide the slight tremble of his hand, “then they’re gone.”

Inseong swallows thickly, turning to look to the street when a car pulls up to the curb. Zuho glances at it, looks down at the license plate, and throws his cigarette to the ground before he stomps it out with the heel of his sneaker. “Maybe I’ll see you around sometime.”

“Maybe.”

“I look forward to it.” Zuho walks away, head bent towards the ground as he approaches the car. Inseong waits for the light to turn green as Zuho slides into the backseat of the car, and it peels slowly away from the curb and away in the town.

The walk home that night is more lonely than Inseong remembers it ever being before.

* * *

Sanghyuk’s asleep when Inseong returns home, and he sighs as he sits on the bed next to the other. When he reaches over to brush his hand through Sanghyuk’s hair, the feeling that starts at his fingers and ends at his heart is foreign.

Longing, Inseong figures, laying down next to the other. “All you do is sleep.” He jokes, but looking at the other leaves pain blossoming in his chest. He looks away, eyes brimming with tears as he looks at everything in the room but Sanghyuk, though his fingers still tangle around the human’s hair gently. “How am I supposed to let you die?”

Sanghyuk’s phone buzzes, and Inseong eyes it from where it sits charging on the other side of the bed. He cranes his neck to read the notification, frowning when he’s finally able to make out the words.

**SEOKWOO, 9:47PM: you should come over tomorrow, since you dont have classes. my practice gets out at fourpm. down? ;p**

The premise of having to watch Sanghyuk fall more infatuated with Seokwoo, while knowing that he would be gone by next week, seemed like overkill. Inseong sighs, grinding his teeth together as he pulls his hand away from Sanghyuk.

In his sleep, Sanghyuk whispers something, repeating it a few times before his pulse starts to quicken. Inseong turns to look at him, watching Sanghyuk curl and uncurl his fist around his blankets like a child. “No...” He murmurs, eyes squeezing shut tighter, “no...”

“Hey,” Inseong mumbles, reaching over to grab Sanghyuk, “it’s okay.” He feels himself fading back into the other’s reality, and he grabs Sanghyuk when he begins shaking, pulling him tightly to his chest in hopes to calm him down before the familiar terror started once again.

It had been so long without him having one of these nightmares, what could have caused it?

Though it seems like a stretch, Inseong’s confused mind falls to Seokwoo, but he knows that he can’t be the cause. It must have been all of the studying he’d been doing that afternoon when Inseong left, it must have reminded him of high school.

Sanghyuk wakes up, an arm shooting out to grab Inseong’s. The blonde gasps, but the other doesn’t seem afraid.

“You...” He whispers, his breath shaking from the nightmare he’d just awoken from, “you...”

He can’t get another word out, choking on a sob as he grips Inseong’s arm tighter, not moving from where he’s pressed against his chest.

Inseong’s too stunned to speak, afraid of even breathing, of moving and scaring the other further. _I fucked up_, repeats in his head as he reprimands himself for appearing, but the thought stills when Sanghyuk’s able to continue.

“You’ve always been here...” He whispers, “right?”

Inseong doesn’t respond. Sanghyuk takes it as a yes.

“I don’t think you’re dangerous.” He continues sleepily, wistfully, and when he tries to pull away Inseong panics and holds him closer, not wanting to show his face to the other. “Ah...” Sanghyuk doesn’t try splitting apart again, instead stilling against Inseong. “But… I don’t know what you want, either.”

_What I want…_

“But thank you.” Sanghyuk whispers, and gasps when he feels the arms disappear from around himself. Inseong fades quickly, and for once, completely, his arm phasing completely through the other before he tears himself away. He often only faded halfway, in case he needed to grab something, or Sanghyuk, to keep him safe. In a completely void state, though, Sanghyuk was completely unaware of his status in the room. “Wait-!”

Sanghyuk sits up quickly, and the sharp movement wakes him up completely. Before he’d been half awake, stuck between a world controlled by his mind and another grounded in reality. He shakes his head, bringing his hands to his eyes as he rubs the sleep from them quickly. “It wasn’t real.” He whispers to himself, assuring himself that the previous scene was just part of his sleeping mind and his night terror. “I’m alone.”

Inseong stares at the other, remembers that he only has one week left to live, and finally feels himself begin to cry.


	4. the arrow in your heart

Sanghyuk seems off the next day. Inseong watches from a distance, his sudden motivation to take care of the other dwindling each time he looks at him. Even when Sanghyuk starts doing dishes, his fingers curling carelessly around a knife’s blade unknowingly as he pulls it out of the water-filled sink, Inseong stays silent.

He had called Seokwoo that morning. They’d agreed that Sanghyuk would go over later that day, after Seokwoo’s practice. Inseong hadn’t liked how Seokwoo’s voice sounded; suggestive, enticed. Sanghyuk had, though, and the moment the call ended he sat straighter, staring forwards with a hesitant resolve settling on his face. Inseong wasn’t amused, almost angry at the fact the complete stranger thought that he was worthy enough to expect anything from Sanghyuk. Maybe it was that phone call that made him so desensitized to the other, or maybe it was the underlying scent of death Inseong could already smell in the air.

It’s sweet, captivating. It’s what he’d smelled when he died, it’s the last thing he remembers from his past life. Wrapping around him, choking his throat. It dragged him down, accompanying him into the depths of his own mind before his body shut down. It’s the smell of the Reaper, who Inseong knows must be drawing near.

The guardian angel’s job was to protect, and to reap the soul. However, angels often found themselves unable to take the other’s soul; so the Reaper was called upon to watch the angel. If they couldn’t finish their job, it would be done for them.

Sanghyuk sighs, walking into the living room where Inseong currently sits against the couch, the floor under his legs uncomfortable and hard. Sanghyuk falls back onto the couch, closing his eyes.

“I’m so tired...”

_Stay here._

Sanghyuk turns over, facing the back of the couch. His breathing begins to slow, becoming even and deep. Inseong turns to look at him, disbelief on his face. “Do you _always _sleep?” The human lets out a soft, steady breath, and Inseong stands up. “You’re so lazy,” he remarks, at first attempting to humor himself; though it soon turns aggressive, and he’s staring down at the other angrily. “You’re wasting your entire fucking life sleeping and you don’t even know it,” he hisses, his chest rising and falling unevenly as he begins to panic, “I’m going to fucking lose you, Sanghyuk.”

He hadn’t realized how much the other meant to him until he was staring at the end of their time together; his eyes watering from keeping them open against those of Death, which dared him to blink first, to lose another millisecond of time he had with Sanghyuk. His life revolved around the other. Inseong had met Sanghyuk just days after his own death. A teenager, confused, stupid, forced to watch over _another_ confused, stupid teenager… Inseong bites his lip, turning away to look at the window. The sun is high in the sky, glaring angrily, brightly down at the world beneath.

Sanghyuk had been the only thing that got him through the realization that he was dead. And now, he would watch the life be torn from Sanghyuk’s own body as it had been his own. Part of him wonders if this is his fault, the other’s unnaturally sudden death. He was careless, but Sanghyuk had a good head on his shoulders. He was healthy; Inseong can’t understand how the other could even end up dying.

“How the fuck am I supposed to lose you?”

Inseong takes a shuddering breath, falling back to his knees. Sanghyuk turns over on the couch, facing the ceiling. His eyes are closed peacefully, lips parted around soft, silent snores. The angel presses his palms to his eyes, scrubbing them roughly. “I can’t lose you.”

_“You’re coming over later?” _

_ “If you still want me to, yeah!” Sanghyuk smiled, unaware of the voice warning him against his plans _ _sitting_ _ next to him on the bed. He leaned over, reaching for his phone charger before plugging the device in, setting the call to speaker. “_ _I’m so down.” He cringed at his words, but Seokwoo only laughed._

_ “Good! Good, I’m glad…” His breath hitched, Sanghyuk bit his lip. “Hey, what are you doing right now?”_

_ “Nothing really,” Sanghyuk hummed, “gonna take a shower in a minute.”_

_ “Yeah?”_

_ “Yeah,” Sanghyuk smirked, leaning back _ _against his pillows_ _, “why?”_

_ “No reason.”_

_Sanghyuk_ _ brought a hand to his chest, felt his pulse flutter underneath his fingertips, and mouthed a silent ‘oh my God’ before responding. He closed his eyes, hand still poised daintily over his skin. “What are you doing?”_

_ Seokwoo laughed again, but his voice sounded different now. Lower; lethal. “Whatever you want me to be doing.” _

_Their conversation had taken a sudden nosedive, changing courses rapidly. _ _Another mouthed ‘oh my God,’ and Sanghyuk’s covering his mouth with his hand, subduing a blush. It bled through, though, staining his cheeks pink. “_ _Really?” He tried to sound disinterested, bored though his attention was fully on the phone laying beside him on the bed. “That might be bad for you.”_

_Sanghyuk_ _ seemed shocked that he’d said it _ _himself_ _, and he sat up with a disgusted look on his face. ‘What? God, I’m fucking stupid’._

_ “_ _Really? To me, that s_ _ounds _ _like_ _ fun.” Seokwoo hummed. “Ah, I have to get going. _ _Practice. _ _But maybe we’ll pick this back up later?” _

_ “Ah...”_

_ Seokwoo laughed. “God, you’re fucking hilarious, Sanghyuk.” And just like that, his voice had changed back to what it had sounded like before _ _the drop of the conversation_ _. Soft, though _ _at the same time _ _quick, his words trailing into one another messily though all of _ _them_ _ were clear and well thought out. “I’ll text you my address.”_

_ “O-Okay.”_

_ “Think of me while you’re showering,” he teased, and hung up the phone._

_ Sanghyuk buried his face in his hands, groaning. “Fuck!”_

**LINEBREAK**

Sanghyuk wakes up an hour later, and takes the rest of the time he has to get ready. Inseong watches idly, sitting in the doorway of the bathroom while the other tries to style his hair. Eventually, Sanghyuk gives up with his hair half slicked back, sighing in defeat as he brings his hand up to card through the strands. He distributes the product messily through his hair, staring at himself in the mirror as he slows his hand’s movement.

His lips part around unsaid words, eyebrows drawing low as he silently debates something within his own head. Inseong watches him curiously, but soon the human shrugs and leaves the bathroom, flicking the light off quickly as he does. The angel waits for him beside the bathroom when Sanghyuk runs upstairs, and moments later he returns with a small white bag slung over his shoulder, and his glasses resting precariously on the bridge of his nose. His cheeks seem rounder when he wears them, and so he never had, having always felt self conscious of the feature. Though, Inseong thought it was cute.

Sanghyuk looks around, his hands straying to his back pockets to drift over his cellphone. He pulls it out, begins typing something in, and reaches up to his bag. He keeps his phone between two fingers as he digs around through the bag with the other, finally fishing out a pair of earbuds. He plugs them into the phone, jams the buds into his ears, and turns to leave.

Still feeling slightly uneasy about the phone call from before, Inseong feels that Seokwoo is hiding something. It could easily be his paranoia, or his anxiety from the upcoming _event_ that would leave him alone without Sanghyuk; but regardless, he doesn’t trust the newcomer in his human’s life. And it was his job entirely to get to the bottom of things.

They walk for a while, entering town rather suddenly. Inseong feels that time is warping around him, becoming shorter as they already seem to be nearing their destination. Everything seems so _wrong_ with the situation; Inseong takes a slow breath in to try and calm his nerves, but it doesn’t work.

Inseong follows close behind Sanghyuk as they walk to Seokwoo’s home. They weren’t far, only a few minutes away according to the map on Sanghyuk’s phone. They were in a familiar part of the town, right between Inseong’s office and Sanghyuk’s college. The streets are alive with color, bustling with people and traffic. The crosswalks are constantly in motion, the crowds skirting over them listlessly.

“Just...” Sanghyuk looks up and around, confused as he checks his phone once again, something he’d been doing frequently since entering the town, “this fucking app...”

Inseong sees the mistake the other had made the moment he checks the device in his hand, and takes pity on him. Maybe it was for lack of more time together, but Inseong didn’t want the other to be confused. He wanted him to feel nothing but ease for the last few days he had. He bites his lip, ducks into an alley, and reemerges moments later.

“You look lost,” he smiles, and Sanghyuk turns quickly to look at him. “Can I help you out?”

“Oh! Uh, yeah,” Sanghyuk steps to Inseong’s side, showing him his phone, “I’m trying to find my friend’s house, but I just… Don’t see it?” The app flashes a cheeky _‘your destination is on __your__ left!’, _though left is the street and Inseong’s damn near positive that Sanghyuk didn’t have to get hit by a truck to see Seokwoo.

He acts as if it’s his first time seeing the screen, and smiles faintly. He takes a moment to look at the screen, as if he didn’t already know what the problem is. Inseong nods, pointing to the device. “Yeah, you just took a wrong turn down here. I’m guessing the app just didn’t see that.” He motions to the path on the app that connects their current street to the one Sanghyuk was supposed to be on. “Just rework your way down the road and you’ll get to it.”

“Thank you so much,” Sanghyuk looks up to the other, and as if for the first time, finally sees him. Though, to him, this _is_ the first time. Or, at least, the first time he was formally seeing him. Inseong feels self conscious, realizing he probably looked like trash. He hears Sanghyuk’s pulse rise faintly in the back of his mind, but pays no attention to it. “Um… My name’s Sanghyuk.”

“I’m… Seokjin,” the blonde blurts before looking away, shoving his hands into his pockets. Sanghyuk cocks his head to the side, grinning. Inseong hates that he lied to the other, but there was no way he could get comfortable with their brief first meeting.

“Your voice is really familiar, have we met before?”

“No, I don’t think we have.”

“Oh… Alright,” Sanghyuk looks disappointed. “Well, thanks so much for your help, Seokjin.”

His lips form around the name so effortlessly that Inseong almost asks him to say his real name. He feels his own heart accelerate, just for a brief moment, and the image of Chanhee staring up at him flashes into his thoughts. Screaming, begging for help, eyes wide with terror.

Inseong’s fear bubbles up in his throat like bile, and he dips into a throng of people the moment he can, vanishing once again into thin air before rejoining Sanghyuk obediently, glued to his side.

Sanghyuk takes the other’s advice, immediately tracing his steps back to the end of the road before turning down a different path, skirting quickly over the crosswalk between green lights. He finds his way to Seokwoo’s house almost moments after, pausing on his doorstep.

The buildings all look the exact same. Carbon copies of each other; two stories, large sloping windows, and closed off patios that all boast different couches. Though, they were all still somehow the same. Sanghyuk checks his phone, then the number next to the door, debating on if he was at the right house.

Sanghyuk raises a tentative hand, knocking his knuckle quickly against the door. He cringes after, as if he’d awoken something or someone who should have remained sleeping, but it’s too late. His shoulders relax from where they’d tensed the moment the door opens, and Seokwoo peeks out at him, smiling softly.

“Sanghyuk,” he greets the other quietly, opening the door to the patio wider so Sanghyuk can come inside. The air is much warmer in the enclosed space, and the sun pours through the windows like water, filling the space with an odd, golden glow. It’s heavenly, graceful. Dust dances in the light rays, bouncing up from the floor with each step they take. “No trouble finding the place?”

“Oh! No, not at all,” Sanghyuk waves a hand dismissively, laughing shyly. Inseong stares at him._ Fucking liar_. “It was… Really easy to find.”

“Fucking liar,” Inseong remarks verbally now, and Seokwoo holds back a laugh. At first, Inseong thinks it’s because of him, but Seokwoo’s eyes only linger on Sanghyuk. Inseong’s curiosity peaks, though, and he takes a step closer to Seokwoo, staring at him in hopes to analyze him further.

“I’m glad.”

Seokwoo leads Sanghyuk inside, toying with the hem of his sweater nervously. “I don’t usually have people over, I’m sorry about the mess,” he chuckles, but Sanghyuk only shakes his head in response.

The house is immaculate; not a hair out of place. The same could be said for Seokwoo, who wears tight black skinny jeans, high waisted with a light pink sweater tucked into them. The only thing about him that’s uneven is his hair, but even that looks great. Inseong only feels worse about how he looks, and curses the other for his perfect appearance. He’s flawless without even trying.

Though, Sanghyuk likes him, and Inseong supposes that he deserves somebody like Seokwoo as a friend, even if he didn’t like him at all. “It’s fine,” Sanghyuk mumbles, and Seokwoo reaches back and grabs his hand.

“Don’t touch him, you…” Inseong rakes his mind to find an insult, but ends up being unable to. “Swimmer,” he finally growls, “fish boy.”

“Practice ran a little late today, I was worried you would get here before me.” Seokwoo smiles, taking Sanghyuk into the living room. The other follows blindly, like a stray dog who’d finally been invited inside by the same loving citizen that had fed him for weeks. Inseong scoffs, completely backtracking on his previous thoughts on being okay with Seokwoo being Sanghyuk’s friend. He doesn’t like him at _all_.

“Oh, thank God you got here first.” Sanghyuk says suddenly, “it’s cold outside, I would’ve just been stuck out there waiting for you.”

“Never,” Seokwoo smiles, “I’d never make you wait for me.”

Seokwoo breaks their hands apart, and leaves the living room a moment later, saying he was going to grab some water. Sanghyuk sits down on the couch, gaze darting around nervously, impatiently. His leg bounces excitedly, and he takes out his phone to check the time.

Inseong sits on the arm of the couch next to the other, awkwardly shifting his thumbs together and apart. Something didn’t feel right about Seokwoo’s apartment. It felt like some dark specter was lurking through the rooms, drifting around lazily as it observed the rooms aimlessly. Inseong feels uneasy, as if he’s the sudden prime target for the watchful shadow eyes that lurk about.

Sanghyuk must feel them as well. He shifts uncomfortably, looking around as he sets his phone on his lap.

Inseong looks to the other, the ghost of a nervous smile twitching on his lips. “Your friend is creepy.”

“Says you, ghost boy.”

Inseong’s head shoots up, and he gasps when he sees somebody perched on top of a chair across the room. His feet rest on the cushion, the seat of his white jeans against the top, almost leaning against it as if he’s preparing to lunge forward and strike. “You...” Inseong, in complete disbelief, can only stare and mutter the same word over and over again, repeating it under his breath as he watches the other.

“What, surprised?” He smirks, tongue darting out over his lips for a brief moment as his eyes stray up and down the angel across the room from him. “You must not get much attention… Spending all your free time on that one?” He cocks his head towards Sanghyuk, and Inseong slides protectively closer to the mentioned human.

“Who the fuck are you?” There’s a sudden hostility in his tone, and it makes the other raise his eyebrows, challenge shimmering in his eyes. “You’re not human.” He states the obvious, jumping up to stand in front of Sanghyuk, blocking the stranger’s path to him with ease.

“Wow, you’re smart, too! Just my type.” The other laughs, sliding down off of the chair to stand in front of it. “Relax, I don’t want...” He turns his nose up at Inseong’s side, where Sanghyuk’s leg is slightly visible, “_that_ thing.”

Bristling, Inseong takes a step forward. “_What_ did you call him?”

“You heard me. I don’t want your dog.”

Inseong has to hold himself back from grabbing the other and throwing him to the floor. “You better fuck off before I hurt you.”

“You? Hurt me? You look like a fucking marshmallow,” the other giggles, “I’d love to see you try.”

Inseong takes another step forward, and his fingers curl dangerously around the other’s shirt collar when his arm lashes out. “I don’t care who you are or what you are, but if you pose a threat to Sanghyuk, I’ll fucking kill you.”

“I told you already, I have no interest in your pet.”

“Don’t call him that.”

Inseong feels his fingertips itch, twitching as he imagines sinking them into the other’s skin, the already pink flesh of his cheek meeting his knuckle roughly. The other smiles, bringing a hand up to rest on Inseong’s, which still grips his collar tightly. “Relax, hon’.” He eases the other’s hand down, “I’m just fucking with you.”

“Apologize.”

“I’m sorry.”

The other clearly isn’t, but Inseong takes a step back regardless, knowing if he persists he’ll do something he’ll regret. His rage courses through his blood and muscles, tensing them, keeping him alert and ready to strike at any given moment. “Who are you?”

“My name’s Jaeyoon,” the other gives a curt, dramatic bow, as if he’s taking his final moments on stage after a play. “I’m attached to Seokwoo.”

“Attached?”

The term wasn’t one Inseong was familiar with. He sucks in a cautious breath through his teeth, holds it, and sighs it out. Jaeyoon doesn’t repeat the silent greeting, the one all guardian angels seemed to know the moment they were reborn into their lives. Inseong tries to keep the fear from his face as the realization begins to dawn on him.

Jaeyoon was a demon.

The demon doesn’t answer, just smiles and drops back down onto the chair when Seokwoo returns to the room.

“Hey, sorry.” The tall, stupid human that Inseong absolutely _hates_ sets a glass down on the table besides Sanghyuk’s end of the table, “couldn’t find any clean glasses.”

“You’re okay,” Sanghyuk smiles, thanking the other for the water. Jaeyoon watches them with humor in his eyes, and Seokwoo glances up to him, his face paling.

“Does… Does he see you?” Inseong whispers, taking a step back to look at the two humans more easily.

“No, but he can feel me.” Jaeyoon responds curtly, smirking. “He knows how I feel before I do sometimes.”

“You’re not afraid of letting him know you’re here?”

The question is enough to make Jaeyoon laugh. He turns to Inseong, covering his mouth with a hand as he continues to giggle into his palm. It takes a moment for him to calm down enough to gasp out a response, shoulders still bouncing as he tries to relax his breathing. “Are you serious?”

“Uh...” Inseong blushes, turning away. Embarrassment colors his face red. “Yes?”

“Of course I want him to know I’m here. How else could I communicate with him?”

Inseong bites his lip. Jaeyoon continues. “What, does yours not know you’re here?”

“No.”

“Damn! You should get on that.” Jaeyoon waves a hand dismissively, leaning back in the seat as he watches the two. He motions to the arm of the chair on his left, and Inseong hesitantly sits on the edge of it.

Inseong feels like he’s babysitting. It’s awkward, watching over Sanghyuk while the other doesn’t even know he’s there. Though, maybe that was a good thing. Seokwoo had seemed uncomfortable the moment he realized Jaeyoon was around. Inseong felt the same discomfort, knowing he was so close to something that never existed as a human in the first place.

Demons were born from purgatory. Never having been _alive_, they were beings of eternal chaos and hatred. They were evil, always knowing just how to get their way without even trying. They often found their way into governments and into positions of high ranking since manipulating others came so easily to them. They weren’t afraid to reveal themselves, and most did. It was rare for one to live like Jaeyoon was.

Did Jaeyoon know that Inseong knew he was a demon?

Surely not; demons were cautious with who they spoke and confessed their true being to. Maybe he was a wandering soul, one that had never been reaped and had simply continued to exist after their time was up.

Inseong bites his lip, looking helplessly to Sanghyuk, who seemed to be inching closer to Seokwoo the longer the two stay on the couch. The angel forces himself to look away when Seokwoo reaches over to grab the remote that had been on the table beside Sanghyuk, and his hand stays on the other’s lap as he begins to direct the TV across the room from themselves.

“Maybe we should get out of here.”

“What? Why?” Inseong turns to look back to the couch, and is stunned to silence when he sees Seokwoo leaning closer to an expectant Sanghyuk, his fingers poised gently underneath the older’s chin, lifting it to bring his lips closer to his own. “They literally barely know each other.” Inseong draws his eyebrows down, standing up slowly. Jaeyoon watches the other with amusement in his gaze.

Inseong feels Sanghyuk’s pulse as if it’s his own. Both pound loudly, overwhelmingly, and Inseong feels tears brim in his eyes when Sanghyuk’s lips curl against Seokwoo’s, a nervous smile cracking on his face as he moves against the other with inexperience.

Turning to look to Jaeyoon, as if he’ll do something to stop them, Inseong’s hands flex oddly at his sides. “They...”

“They’re about to jump like six bases, Seokwoo’s had a Jason Derulo album on his phone for this exact moment since this morning.” The other informs.

Inseong turns back, stunned. “I...” Sanghyuk leans back, his pulse exploding in the back of Inseong’s head. The human laughs, burying his face in his hands to hide from the other. Seokwoo grins next to him, looking away as he bites his lip. “Jason Derulo?”

“He has a nice voice,” Jaeyoon defends quickly, pointing at Inseong as if it’ll help his case.

“Was that okay?” Seokwoo murmurs, turning back to Sanghyuk before letting his hand fall to the other’s leg, fingers drifting around his thigh slowly.

“Yeah,” Sanghyuk nods, looking up. He swallows thickly, leg bouncing nervously under the other’s touch.

“Want to do it again?”

“Please.”

“Okay!” Inseong claps his hands together, looking back to Jaeyoon, “get them to stop.”

Jaeyoon looks to Inseong with boredom evident on his face. “Why would I do that?”

“Because!” Inseong cries, flailing his arms angrily, “because...” He rakes his mind for a definite answer, but he’s unable to find one. “Because...” He whispers, and Jaeyoon leans back, raising an eyebrow.

“You like Sanghyuk?”

“Of course not! That could get me killed,” Inseong gasps, shaking his head quickly. Jaeyoon purses his lips, sitting forward, suddenly overcome by interest. The look on his face is enough to let Inseong know that his suspicions were right; the other definitely _wasn’t_ an angel if he was unfamiliar with their rules. But the question he’d had after still hangs over him – what _was_ he?

And, implying that he had feelings for Sanghyuk… Inseong shakes his head, biting his lip. There was no way. _No_ way.

Jaeyoon looks up to Inseong before he slowly stands, reaching to grab his hand. The angel shakes the other’s fingers away, frowning. “Don’t touch me,” he instructs, and Jaeyoon gives a curt nod before taking a step back. “Why are they like that?”

“What?” Jaeyoon turns to look at the others for a flash of a second before blushing, looking away. “They like each other.”

“No! I mean humans in general,” Inseong leads the way out of the living room, leaving to sit next to the front door, sliding down against the wall dejectedly. “They barely know each other. Do they crave affection that much?”

“Lonely people do,” Jaeyoon notes, sitting down across from Inseong. “It’s just what happens. You spend so much time alone that the moment you get somebody else, you go a little crazy. I find it endearing,” Jaeyoon smiles, “but what do I know? I’m just observing from the sidelines.”

“Is that… What happened with Seokwoo?” Inseong leans forward, brushing back his hair with a hand. “He’s been lonely?” Jaeyoon nods, wringing his hands together idly.

The cold from outside creeps inside the guarded patio before it finds its way into the home, slipping underneath the front door before washing over Inseong. “Seokwoo’s always been a bit antisocial,” Jaeyoon hums, drawing circles on the floor with his finger, “but I get it. He’s lived a pretty rough life.” He glances up, sees the curiosity peaking on Inseong’s face, and takes the silent emotion as cause to continue. “Seokwoo got into a lot of trouble when he was younger. He ran away often, and no matter how many times he was found, he always went back to the streets. I can’t even tell you why he did it, his home life was fine. But regardless, he left the city on his eighteenth birthday and came here. The only thing really keeping him in the area is his swim team, which is the only reason he’s allowed to attend college, might I add. And, maybe Sanghyuk, now that they’re...” His voice trails off, and the two hear faint whispering from the living room, before as if on cue… Inseong coughs to cover the sound of a load gasp, face reddening.

“That sounds awful,” he states, voice loud to hide whatever sound may carry into the room. “Sanghyuk’s just… Very focused on his work. I’ve never actually seen him interact with anybody besides his family, if I’m being honest. He used to just work himself until he was sick, and even then he’d push himself.” Inseong vaguely remembers a time Sanghyuk fell ill after resisting sleep to study instead, his temperature spiking so high he’d needed to be hospitalized. Inseong can still smell the diluted bleach and lemon scented cleaning products of the hospital ward, and the papery scratching of the sheets Sanghyuk had been laying on. “I’m happy for him, but I can’t shake the feeling that something’s wrong.”

“An angel’s intuition,” Jaeyoon hums, but his tone darkens. “Maybe something _is_ wrong.”

“Like?”

“Like how you’re more worried about a grown ass man getting laid than about taking care of yourself.”

Bristling, Inseong leans back against the wall, his fingers curling into fists. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, please. When was the last time you did anything for yourself?”

He can’t remember, but Inseong doesn’t want to think about that. He especially didn’t want Jaeyoon to know that. “Come on,” the other continues, slotting his fingers through his dark hair, “Sanghyuk has a good head on his shoulders. He’s smart,” Inseong cringes, “enough to be fine if you took a break.”

_He’s going to die._ “What makes you so sure? Seokwoo’s fucked up, you don’t feel slightly responsible? Maybe you took too much time off.” Inseong doesn’t care how rude he comes off, he doesn’t like how the other seems so nonchalant. “Shouldn’t you take your job more seriously?”

“My job?” Jaeyoon laughs, waving his hands dismissively. “I’m no angel, Inseong.”

Inseong’s breath hitches. He knew it already, but Jaeyoon coming out with it so suddenly is something he hadn’t expected. The question _then, what are you?_ hangs on his lips, and he hesitantly asks it after Jaeyoon sets his hands back down. “We both know I don’t need to say it,” he hums, smiling. “Let’s just say I’m nothing you want to fuck around with.”

“What do you want with Seokwoo?”

Inseong feels a sudden swell of protectiveness towards Seokwoo, and Jaeyoon must feel the burning passion to suddenly defend himthrough his skin. It warms the room, completely casts away the draft that had previously settled over the two like a fine dust. Inseong’s emotions mix until he’s only left with rage. He didn’t like Seokwoo, but he absolutely _hated_ the idea of Jaeyoon using him for his own fucked up desires.

“Oh, come on. You think I’m up to something?” He smiles wryly, and Inseong only stares in response, “well, you’d be smart to think that. But really, I don’t have plans for him.”

“You’re lying,” Inseong accuses, and Jaeyoon widens his eyes comically.

“Oh, you need to have more faith in me.” Jaeyoon grins. “What if I promised, huh?” He raises his little finger mockingly, and his grin turns into a ravenous glower. “After all, at least Seokwoo has a while left to live.”

Inseong stills, realizing slowly that Seokwoo coming into Sanghyuk’s life was the worst possible outcome. Jaeyoon_knew._ He knew Sanghyuk’s fate. “How do you know about that?”

“You can just tell that Death follows him closely.” Jaeyoon stands, stretching, clearly not wanting to explain himself. He changes the topic expertly. “I’m getting bored of waiting, though. I want Seokwoo to introduce me to his friend.”

Sanghyuk had been reduced to an animal, put up to the status of simply ‘Sanghyuk’, then had been dropped back down a level to ‘Seokwoo’s friend’. Inseong stands after the other, and when Jaeyoon darts towards the staircase nearby, Inseong follows hot on his heels.

The blonde knocks Jaeyoon to the ground the moment they enter a small room at the top of the stairs, but the demon only smirks, and his content expression is only married by the sound of something crashing across the room from them. Inseong looks up into the darkness around them and squints, making out the shape of something laying on the ground underneath a shelf. Jaeyoon doesn’t fight against the other, instead only waits patiently underneath him.

Inseong looks back down at him angrily, only to be met with the sight of the floor between his arms. “You bastard!” He screams, slamming his fist into the space beneath him that had once been occupied by the other’s head. “Get your ass back out here and face me!”

He barely registers the sound of the door slamming shut behind him, but when he finally realizes he spins around and stands. A moment later, he hears rushed footsteps ascending the stairs before approaching the space he had been locked in.

Inseong only questions why the door didn’t have a knob on the inside – or why when it’s opened he can see a lock on the other end – when the door opens. It’s as if Seokwoo had meant to keep something inside, and Inseong gets the sudden urge to keep Sanghyuk from so much as looking at the room to avoid being locked away.

“Shit,” Seokwoo grumbles, flicking on the light as he steps inside. Inseong squints, his eyes having adjusted to the darkness, before he looks to Sanghyuk to gauge his reaction to the door and the odd locking mechanism. He hadn’t noticed. Sanghyuk squints in confusion, instead looking further into the room, behind Inseong. Inseong doesn’t know why until he turns and takes in the room around him.

Candles. An altar covered in assorted vials and worn books. Something like an Ouija board laying on the floor, where it had been knocked from the wall when Jaeyoon was thrown to the ground. A framed picture of Dawyne the Rock Johnson hanging securely on the wall.

“What… The fuck?” Sanghyuk mumbles, looking around cautiously.

“Yeah,” Seokwoo nods, following his gaze to the photograph. It’s as if that’s the only amiss object in the room; the focal point of the occultist objects. “Celebrity crush,” the other dismisses it, and Sanghyuk seems to be fine with that answer. “You know how it is.”

“Oh, do I.” Sanghyuk fans his face, “Michael Bublé.”

“Oh shit, I love his Christmas music.”

“Who doesn’t?”

The situation is far too confusing for Inseong. He takes a moment to register what’s happening around himself before he focuses back in. Sanghyuk’s doing his best to remain stoic, though the laugh he lets out is slightly nervous. “You look like you have some fun hobbies,” he mumbles, motioning around the room. Seokwoo seems confused, but smiles a moment later.

“Ah… Yeah, usually I don’t tell people about this. But it can’t be helped now I guess.” He picks up the board, dusts it off gently with his sleeve. “I’m not a freak,” Sanghyuk nods, believing the other instantly, “but I believe in ghosts.”

“Same,” Sanghyuk nods, and Seokwoo looks to him with strengthened respect, nodding softly.

“And, if it doesn’t sound crazy, this house is insanely haunted.” Seokwoo continues, pausing as if he’s waiting for Sanghyuk to belittle him. Though, the other doesn’t, and instead stares forward expectantly_. _Inseong can almost hear his thoughts. _Come on, don’t just stop there. _“So, I kinda built this room to communicate with whatever’s here.”

“I believe it,” Sanghyuk nods. “Sometimes I feel like I have somebody watching over me, too.” Almost knowingly, Sanghyuk turns towards Inseong. But he sees right through him, and Inseong realizes he’s just avoiding eye contact with Seokwoo. “I used to wake up a lot because of some bad dreams when I was in high school,” he mumbles, unsure of continuing until Seokwoo smiles and positions the board more comfortably in his arms, the empty eyes of a soulless sun staring at Inseong with warning from the top corner of the burned wood. “But I always felt somebody there with me, you know?”

“I get it,” Seokwoo nods, and hesitantly raises the board. “Have you tried reaching out?”

“Ah… No,” Sanghyuk murmurs, peering curiously at what to him must appear as just a game teenagers played when they were bored at parties. “Are these even legit?”

“If you use them right,” Seokwoo sets it on the floor, and stands up to grab something off of the shelf. A wooden planchette, beautifully sculpted to fit around a glass eyepiece in the center. It’s all extremely well taken care of; Inseong can’t see any scratches or wearing on the board or the moving piece whatsoever. “Just be respectful; barely even touch this piece, okay? Hover your fingers over it.”

Sanghyuk obliges when the planchette is set down carefully on top of the board, after they both sit down on opposite sides of the object in between them. Inseong feels an odd pulling sensation between himself and the glass eyepiece, as if it draws him in. He can’t deny it, and finds himself sitting down on the side of the board, staring down thoughtlessly at the eye that reflects his image back up to himself.

Seokwoo gently lays his fingers on top of the moving piece, and Sanghyuk jumps to follow his lead, nervously knocking his hand against Seokwoo’s clumsily. The other smiles, readjusting his fingers lightly. Sanghyuk does the same, looking up to him as if he doesn’t believe that he’s actually trusting the other. Though, he has no other option; when a guy brandishes a board and instructs you on how to use it, while a framed picture of Dwayne the Rock Johnson stares you down from across the room, you _listen_.

“You seem tense,” Seokwoo mumbles, cocking his head to the side as he begins circling the piece around the board, “try to relax a bit. This might not even work, so don’t get too freaked out.”

Laughing, Sanghyuk’s fingers follow the other’s blindly, and he concentrates on keeping them steady on the planchette. “I’m not freaked out.”

“Okay.”

Inseong watches a drop of blood fall onto his lap. He raises a hand, eyes widening when he feels something wet underneath his nose. Something was very, _very_ wrong with the home. He looks up suddenly, and lurches forwards as somebody shoves him from behind. His fingers clasp the side of the planchette, and he drags it towards himself as he sits up.

He knows who’s behind him without even looking. “Jaeyoon,” he warns, and watches as the other walks past Sanghyuk, sitting down at the last empty space around the board with a burning intensity in his eyes. He looks up to Inseong, no emotion clear on his face as he watches the other.

Seokwoo and Sanghyuk seem stunned into silence, just watching their fingers, which still hover over the piece Inseong had yanked away from the center of the board. Each twitch of the sliding piece makes them jump. Even Seokwoo, who had appeared so sure of himself and the board before, was on edge. Inseong wonders if the other had really wanted to come into contact with anything, or if this room was even of his own creation.

Part of him has the feeling that Jaeyoon was behind the entirety of the room, every last detail of his own desire. Except for the framed photograph; that was all Seokwoo.

“Is somebody here?” Sanghyuk laughs, looking up to Seokwoo nervously. “Maybe we shouldn’t be fucking with this.”

Seokwoo nods with agreement, but his hands stay poised above the wood. Sanghyuk’s do, as well. No matter the fear they felt, neither of them wanted to quit. Sanghyuk’s pulse vibrates almost painfully in Inseong’s head. Adrenaline was a drug, and though they were frightened, this situation must appear at least somewhat exciting.

When the angel attempts to pull his fingers away from the planchette, they stick to the wood, and Jaeyoon laughs.

“You can’t leave until they do.”

“This is sick,” Inseong starts, glaring up at Jaeyoon, “let me guess, you made Seokwoo get all this shit?”

“Aw, no. But I did give him the idea,” Jaeyoon smiles. “He isn’t as sweet as he looks, Inseong, don’t you get that?”

“I think you’re to blame for that.” Bitter, Inseong turns away and faces the board. “Okay, well...” Cautiously pushing his fingers forward, the glass piece lands steadily over the **H** written in dark paint on the smooth wood. He follows it with the **E**, then an **L L O**, and pauses above the last letter, waiting for the other two to do something. He tries to ignore Jaeyoon, whose gaze he can feel burning through his skin. He keeps his free hand on his nose, trying to hold back the bleeding until he can break away and grab a towel that Seokwoo wouldn’t realize had disappeared if it did.

Seokwoo seems confused. “Who are you?” Sanghyuk’s taken aback at the sudden question, and as Inseong spells his answer, he whispers nervously to Seokwoo.

“I thought you knew who it was; haven’t you done this before?”

“Usually he calls me a fuckwad or some other insult, so no, I don’t think so.” Seokwoo whispers back, glancing down at the board. **INSEONG**. “Inseong?”

**YES**. The sun stares back up at him, now highlighted by the planchette hovering over it. “This is fucking ridiculous,” Inseong notes, looking up to Jaeyoon finally. “Are they really taking this shit seriously?”

“Not to be dramatic or anything,” Seokwoo muses, “but what the fuck.”

“They do.” Jaeyoon answers with a bored tone, pointing towards Seokwoo.

“Why are you here?” Seokwoo starts, glancing up towards Sanghyuk as if he already knows the answer. Inseong writes out a response anyway. **SANGHYUK**.

Sanghyuk shivers slightly, but doesn’t seem as nervous as he had before. Something had changed in his motions. His gaze became fluid as it swept across the board and room, completely relaxed. “Why me?” He muses, leaning back slightly. Seokwoo looks up to the other, clearly noticing the change in his demeanor just as Inseong had. Something changed.

**WATCHING**. Inseong can’t help but write more than one word at a time, feeling the pull between himself and the board grow painful each time he passes a certain amount of letters. His nose begins to bleed once again, and he raises the hand unattached to the planchette to hold over it, trying to stop the bleeding as much as he could.

Sanghyuk nods, biting his lip. Seokwoo doesn’t seem surprised at any of the answers or questions, and Inseong barely notices that Jaeyoon had slipped closer to the human, his arm brushing the other’s from how close they had become. “Last night;” Seokwoo suddenly becomes interested, “was that you?”

Inseong hesitates, but slowly draws the glass eyepiece to rest above the **YES**. His chest heaves painfully, and he realizes quickly that he needed to end the conversation before the pull became too much. He pulls the piece towards the bottom of the board, circling the **GOODBYE** that he seems to be unable to actually touch with the glass piece.

“Bye.” Seokwoo murmurs, pushing the piece over the word. Inseong shoots backwards, both hands instinctively clutching his nose. He coughs, choking on the air in the room, which seemed to have become stale in the room. “You okay?”

“Fine,” Sanghyuk nods, smiling faintly. “But let’s never do that again.”

“Agreed,” Seokwoo stands, picking up the pieces before calmly separating the slider from the board. He sets them far apart from each other on the shelf that one of the pieces had been knocked from earlier, and turns to look back at Sanghyuk. “Inseong?”

Sanghyuk shakes his head, and Inseong feels a sudden, sharp disconnect from him. He frowns, grips his nose a bit tighter, and looks away. “Let’s not talk about it.” Sanghyuk mumbles.

*******

** Sanghyuk **follows Seokwoo out of the room, shoving his hands into his pockets as the two descend the stairs. Something feels wrong, off with him. Like a clock mere seconds ahead of the actual time, off though still close enough. But, it was still _off_, and that fact alone causes slight discomfort when it’s considered for long enough. It’s not enough to get so worked up you manually change it, but it’s enough to exist, to be something that bothers you.

Sanghyuk can’t figure out what’s wrong, but the feeling in his chest isn’t enough to bother him, just unnerve him ever so slightly. It wasn’t anything about Seokwoo; it was internal, like a warning he couldn’t decipher.

No, his current relationship he couldn’t find a problem with. It was strange, different, but he didn’t mind the difference to what he was used to. He’d spent a long time alone; he knew this, knew it was a bit depressing, but he figures that it had been so long he just didn’t care. Seokwoo was nice – strange, but nice nonetheless. He was sincere.

Having missed so much in high school, Sanghyuk knows he’s trying to make up for it in college. He missed having friends, going to parties, everything exciting that he’d one day recount to somebody with a look of remembrance and nostalgia falling upon him. Reckless was what he needed to be now; to make up for every little, at the time, insignificant detail.

“You look off,” Seokwoo notes when they finally fall back onto the couch next to each other, “you okay?”

Sanghyuk nods, folding into the other’s side. “I’m fine.” He assures, smiling. “Just tired.”

“Do you want to spend the night here?”

There’s no suggestion in his tone. Seokwoo sounds just as tired as Sanghyuk feels; quiet, disassociated voice echoing off of the walls of the clean home. Sanghyuk had been shocked upon seeing how spotless the other’s home was, complete and in utter disbelief that a student could live in such pristine conditions. He thought it was a rule that students were messy, but Seokwoo seemed to either not care or be completely unaware. He wasn’t like anybody else Sanghyuk had met; but he didn’t have much to go off of, anyway.

But who was he to think so deeply about a situation that most people wouldn’t bat an eye at? His life was average. It was nothing to get worked up over. So, he leans further onto the other and nods, closing his eyes. “Yeah, that would be nice.”

“Do you have class tomorrow?”

“Yeah, you?”

“Wish I didn’t,” Seokwoo hums, sinking further back into the couch. He reaches past the other to grab a blanket that had been folded neatly over the end of the couch when Sanghyuk first arrived, but had since slid down to hang messily over the edge of the couch, the tip of it brushing the floor.

The afternoon sun still pours through the windows and onto the floor. It hurts Sanghyuk’s eyes when he opens them, golden on the carpet of the living room. Dust floats through the rays as it had on the porch, and Sanghyuk remembers something faintly from his childhood. Sitting underneath a window, some book in his lap as he spoke to somebody next to him.

At first, the memory confuses him. It didn’t feel real; it wasn’t _his_ memory, or if it was he feels so disconnected from his past that it now feels horribly wrong. He doesn’t know the face that had been next to him, or even remember anything about that scene other than what he’d briefly seen.

Seokwoo throws the blanket over the both of them, brushing Sanghyuk’s hair back with his fingers idly. The motion doesn’t seem to have any thought behind it, it’s just a brief sweep of the other’s hand before it’s over. It’s second nature, Seokwoo may not even realize he’d done it when he pulls his fingers away and continues to adjust the blanket over them.

Something’s wrong.

Sanghyuk feels eyes on him, and thinks back on how his fingers had felt immobilized on the planchette upstairs. “Seokwoo, is your house really haunted?”

“I mean, I’ve seen some shit so yeah, probably.”

“Do you think it’s dangerous?”

“Nah,” the younger lays down, pulling Sanghyuk with him. “I doubt it. I’m still here.”

They don’t speak after that. Seokwoo’s statement stays lingering in the air. _I’m still here_.


	5. dwelling in the depths of you

Inseong finds that the days pass rather slowly. They tick by while he watches from the shadows of the remainder of Sanghyuk’s life, waiting for the day he’d watch him go. It comes into focus faster than he’d like; he feels like he’s stepped away for the last few days and simply observed Sanghyuk’s life from a distance.

Day one; Inseong had found the file and met Zuho on the street before walking back home from the office.

Day two; Sanghyuk had gone to visit Seokwoo, and they’d spoken to him over the Ouija Board briefly before falling asleep together on the couch.

Day three; The humans had gone to class in the morning, but gone their separate ways after. That night, Sanghyuk had received and sent scandalous pictures with Seokwoo while Inseong hid in a different room, not wanting to have any part of seeing the other’s antics.

Day four; Seokwoo had visited, and Jaeyoon had come with him. Inseong could only hear the two through the walls as he and Jaeyoon sat in the living room, an odd silence between them. It was as if Jaeyoon was apologetic in his silence, not wanting to cause further trouble than he had the first time they’d met. Inseong was oddly grateful for it, finding himself comforted by the quiet. 

Hiding his pain behind his words was too difficult for him to do, but by eliminating the words, the pain became easier to deal with. Instead of being put out into the world, it stayed locked up in his chest and throat, and though he knew it would be healthy to release, he refused to. He didn’t want to part with the pain; it was the only thing that made him feel sane.

Day five. Inseong hadn’t slept since day three, and his thoughts had become muddled as he sat beside Sanghyuk at the college’s pool, both idly watching Seokwoo during his practice. Every time Inseong had grown close to falling asleep, his fear of missing a moment with Sanghyuk skyrocketed, and he forced his eyes awake. That night he’d more or less passed out next to Sanghyuk in the human’s bed, unsure of if he had faded into existence when the other curled up against him and whispered the name Seokwoo in his sleep.

Day six.

Inseong finally snaps out of the stupor he’d forced himself into earlier that week, realizing that tonight was his last possible night to see Sanghyuk; to interact with him, if he dared to do so. There would be no repercussions so long as he stuck to the angel rules; no confessing to being a guardian, no falling in love (or acting upon it), and no murdering your human. Inseong knew there was a decent chance that he would break two of the three mentioned rules, obviously upholding his loyalty to obeying the last rule, if he revealed himself physically on purpose to Sanghyuk once more. Though, he debates on if it mattered at this point if he or if he didn’t listen to the rules.

Did he fall in love with Sanghyuk? He isn’t sure, but he knows he feels something more for him each time he looks at the human. He knew he would find out if the other actually locked gazes with him knowingly, or smiled at him, or even just interacted with him in any way besides the Ouija board or in one sided conversation. Inseong would know if he’d fallen in love in any of those given instances, and knows he wants to experience them at least once before the next day. 

Is it selfish? Inseong doesn’t care.

Currently, Inseong watches longingly as Sanghyuk wraps his arms tighter around Seokwoo’s torso, dragging him back into his chest as they lay together idly on his bed. They were waiting for the time to inch closer to six so they could go to a meeting at the college, something about increased crime in the town and higher security. Regardless of how interesting it was, it was mandatory for all students to attend, and so Sanghyuk and Seokwoo begrudgingly waited for the time they’d have to break from their embrace.

Jaeyoon walks into the room, talks a lingering look at the two, and then collapses onto the floor besides Inseong. “Fucked up, huh?” He tilts his head towards the two on the bed, and Inseong nods softly. “I don’t get what Seokwoo sees in him.”

“I can say the same for Sanghyuk.”

They both feel the same for the human they’re connected to; Inseong can tell. They share the same jealous tone, but hide it under their disapproval for the other and their human as to not make it obvious. Inseong and Jaeyoon are two sides of the same coin, and both have fallen in unrequited love. 

The hands of the clock finally land on the twelve and six, and Sanghyuk hesitantly breaks away first, sitting up. “We should get going.”

Seokwoo picks up his phone from next to himself, grumbling under his breath when he sees the time. “Guess we have to,” he follows Sanghyuk up, and slips from the bed before turning back to look at the other. “I’ll probably head home after the meeting, you coming with?”

“Ah… I shouldn’t,” Sanghyuk smiles apologetically, raising a hand to brush a stray strand of hair behind his ear, “I haven’t felt well for the past few days. If I go back with you, I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep.”

Seokwoo smirks, but hides it behind his palm, biting back a laugh. “Sorry.”

“Oh! No, don’t be.” Sanghyuk follows the other out of the bedroom and to the front door, and they pause to slide their shoes on, “you’re great.”

* * *

Jaeyoon hadn’t followed Seokwoo to the meeting, choosing instead to wander through the town while he waited for the college to dismiss the students. Inseong sits alone in the back of the room, watching the curls on the back of Sanghyuk’s head bounce as he laughs, deep in a conversation with Seokwoo and one of the other swim team members, Youngkyun. The group of three was waiting for another member of the team to arrive, Youngbin, and had a seat saved for him between Seokwoo and Youngkyun.

The meeting was being held in the awfully large auditorium of the college, which fills steadily with the influx of students being roused from their nights by the abrupt meeting. Inseong cocks his head to the side curiously at the vaguely familiar flash of blue hair across the room from him, and he stands up and carefully steps down the bleachers, fading into reality as he passes through a crowd when he finally reaches the floor. 

“Zuho,” he greets lowly, taking a seat next to the loner who had been sitting on the highest level of the auditorium’s bleachers across from Sanghyuk, “didn’t expect to see you here.”

The other doesn’t look shocked, but a gentle familiarity shimmers in his gaze as he slides over to make room for Inseong next to himself. “You go to school here?”

“Nope. Just passing through.” Inseong laughs, and Zuho smiles. “I didn’t realize you went here, though. I’m kind of surprised I haven’t seen you around.”

Zuho turns to look at him, folding his hands together in his lap. “See me around? I thought you didn’t go here.”

“I don’t, but some guy I watch over does.”

“Like a guardian-”

“-don’t.” Inseong stops the other from finishing his sentence, eyes widening. Zuho’s death wouldn’t be on his hands, Inseong would make sure of it. The words guardian angel passing Zuho’s lips were a sure way to get the human killed. “Don’t finish that train of thought or we’ll both regret it.”

Zuho seems to understand and nods, looking away. “You should call me Juho,” the other murmurs, before he looks back at Inseong. He looks much different than he had on the first night they’d met. There’s a softness to him now that hadn’t existed within him that rainy night under the glare of the traffic lights on the street. Now he’s dressed in a white sweater and black ripped jeans, rings adorning his slender fingers lovingly. Inseong watches the way they catch the light like he’s in a trance when Juho raises his hand to slot through his bangs. “Zuho’s an alias, you know? Friends should use each other’s real names.”

“Friends?” Inseong cocks his head to the side, raising an eyebrow, “we’ve only spoken twice.”

“Twice is enough for me to decide I like you.” Juho hums, turning his gaze away from Inseong for a moment to scan the floor of the room. “You know, I feel safe with you.”

“Juho, you don’t know me.”

The other shrugs, looking towards where Sanghyuk’s seated before sighing. “Hey,” he changes the flow of the conversation suddenly, pointing towards the small group surrounding Inseong’s charge, “you see that guy?”

“Which one?” Inseong follows the other’s finger before he drops it, frowning. Seokwoo. “Seokwoo?”

“Yeah, he’s my ex.” Juho mumbles, biting his lip. “Looks like he’s hanging around that quiet guy now. Sanghyuk?”

Inseong nods, leaning forward to snag a closer look at the two of them. “You’re friends with Sanghyuk?” Inseong knows the answer, but wants to hear Juho’s answer, wants to gauge him on how well he’s to be trusted.

“No,” Juho hums, “but I bet we could be friends if we tried to be.” Inseong nods, letting out a soft sigh when he decides that he likes the other officially. Juho was a good kid, and Inseong makes a short mental note to keep a close eye on him to keep him out of trouble. “I just don’t know if he’s ready to handle to Seokwoo quite yet.”

Inseong’s about to ask him what he means, but Juho’s phone buzzes in his pocket and the human pulls it out with an annoyed look on his face. “Hold on,” he mumbles, clicking a button before raising the device to his ear. His tone shifts to something colder from where it had once rested at comfortable, now businesslike and unfazed. “Hello?”

Whoever speaks on the other line can’t be heard by Inseong over the loud voices carrying around the filling auditorium, but Juho must hear them too well. He doesn’t seem happy, a glower beginning to set over his face as the other continues to speak to him. 

“Right now?” He sighs, puffing out his cheeks as the other answers him. “I told you I couldn’t be on call tonight.” There’s a short pause. “Well what do you mean he called out!? He can’t just call out.” A longer pause, and it’s ended by Juho blowing out a submissive breath. “Fine, God. I’ll take it.”

The call ends and Juho lowers his hand back down to his pocket, shoving his phone into it haphazardly. “Wanna come out on a job with me?” He turns towards Inseong, and the angel realizes slowly that the other isn’t exactly asking. It’s a command under the disguise of a simple question, and so Inseong silently follows him up and down the bleachers, letting his gaze run to Sanghyuk once more before he leaves.

Their eyes lock; Sanghyuk has a wave of recognition cross his face when he takes a second glance at Inseong. The blonde turns away, hoping that the prolonged eye contact is enough for Sanghyuk. 

Inseong feels his heart skip a beat when he turns and sees the brunette still staring at him, completely ignoring Seokwoo, who sits beside him speaking enthusiastically. Inseong knows it’s a terrible thing to think, but he’s thrilled that the other’s paying him even the slightest bit of attention. He doesn’t want it to end, wants to approach the other and strike up a conversation with him as if they were both normal humans.

Inseong leaves the auditorium with Juho a moment later, the both of them stepping out into the hall before leaving to go outside through the first door on their left. “What’s the job?” Inseong crosses his arms, jolting slightly at the shock his body feels from the cold wrapping around him suddenly. Juho shakes his head, stuffing his hands into his jean pockets to protect them from the night air. 

“Just to do some cleaning.”

The short conversation ends there, on the sidewalk in front of the college in the freezing air. 

* * *

By cleaning, Inseong had imagined cleaning the dust off of some shelves or sweeping up dirt off of the floor. He doesn’t imagine he’d be kneeling down in front of a puddle of something red and sticky, wiping it up while the stench of something awfully sweet and metallic wafts over him in a welcoming manner. 

“Sorry, but I couldn’t just leave without you. If I did, there’d be a witness.” 

Inseong nods, biting his lip as he drops the sponge Juho had given him. They’re in the basement of a woman’s home, the aforementioned upstairs talking in a hushed voice to a man Inseong can only presume to be one of Juho’s higher-ups. He understood the other’s urgency to bring him along; leaving him would leave a witness to Juho’s disappearance from the meeting, leaving his alibi for coming to clean a crime scene completely broken. Hopefully, nobody else had seen them leave, meaning that the college’s impromptu meeting still kept Juho far from suspect in the eyes of the law if this situation became anything bigger than a private matter. 

“You don’t have to clean it,” Juho waves a hand dismissively, and Inseong immediately nods and moves away, “I just had to make it look like you were here to help in front of my boss.” The human has his hair swept back, held in place by a black headband. “Think I’m going to Hell?” He laughs coldly, and Inseong cringes at the words. “Just kidding.”

The other makes quick work of the blood, his face scrunched up with disgust when he moves on to scrape another puddle of it off of the floor a few feet away from where the first one had been. “You don’t need to tell me,” he starts, glancing up to Inseong, “but what are you, exactly?” 

Inseong doesn’t answer. Juho smiles bitterly. “I want to believe you, but part of me is saying you’re just fucking with me.”

“If I tell you, I’d have to kill you.”

“Oh, please tell me!” Juho starts suddenly, causing Inseong to launch himself backwards with shock. The human laughs, ducking his head with his fit of giggles as he waves a hand. “I’m kidding. Sorry, I have a warped sense of humor.” He flashes a peace sign at Inseong. “Childhood trauma, am I right?”

This kid’s fucking insane. Inseong nods, forcing a polite smile. “So, I’m sorry, but why are we here handling this?”

Inseong has less than twenty four hours to spend with Sanghyuk, and instead of watching the other live his last hours oblivious and happy, he’s watching some other human scrape blood off of the floor and walls of some rich woman’s basement floor. 

“Because I was told to.”

“So you just do what your told always, no complaint?”

“It’s not like I can just say no to the guy who has my life in the palm of his hand.”

Inseong nods, partially understanding what the other meant. He feels a distant connection to him, as if Juho’s situation can vaguely relate to his own in the slightest possible way. If Juho stepped out of line, though, he himself would take the fall. If Inseong did, he would have to share his punishment with Sanghyuk. 

“Zuho!”

Inseong freezes, looking to the blue haired boy nervously. The other doesn’t seem fazed by his boss’s shout from the top of the stairs, and so he approaches them calmly with crossed arms, dropping the sponge he’d been using on the blood onto the floor unceremoniously. “What?”

“I want you to pay a visit to that guy who’s been giving Ghost problems recently.”

Now, Juho looks tense. His shoulders tighten, and he stares up in disbelief. “You want me taking on Firefly alone?”

Inseong can’t wrap his head around the aliases, but he’s having fun just hearing them and becomes fixated on them. Ghost? Firefly? He’s intrigued, but not enough to become invested.

There’s a creak on the stairs as Juho’s boss takes a menacing step down them. “Are you defying me?” Ice drips from his tone, and Juho realizes his mistake instantly before ducking his head apologetically, keeping it low to avoid angering the man further. 

“No,” Juho whispers meekly, clasping his hands together to avoid allowing the others to see how badly they’re shaking, “I’m sorry.”

The stairs creak again when his boss turns and leaves, and when Inseong hears the basement door slam shut he races to the other’s side before forcing him to raise his head again, concerned eyes looking the other up and down quickly. “What was that about?” He tries to get the other to crack a smile, but Juho looks absolutely terrified. 

“I’m going to die.” He whispers, shaking his head slowly. His eyes are wide, unblinking as he stares emptily at Inseong. 

“Who’s Firefly?” 

“He’s...” Juho swallows thickly, crouching down to pick up the bloodied sponge before going back to work, trying to work his shaking hands to calm them down. Though, he’s barely able to even scrub the floor properly, and he just ends up kneeling on the floor looking up to Inseong. “He’s an old coworker, you could say… He disappeared a while ago and started harassing one of our new guys, some kid a bit younger than me.”

“And you need to kill him?”

Juho nods, eyes brimming with tears. “Or I need to scare him into staying away.”

“But you’re good at your job,” Inseong murmurs, crouching down in front of the other. It feels weird; being a guardian angel, but giving a human advice on how to murder somebody. “Why are you so scared?”

“He’s a lot bigger than I am, a lot stronger…” Juho smiles helplessly, looking back to the ground. He bites his lip, “if I mess up, he’ll kill me really easily.”

Inseong wants to help the other, but knows there’s no way he possibly can. Both of them know it; the blonde had gotten wrapped up in something he didn’t belong in. This was a world apart from his own, where guardian angels didn’t interfere and let the humans meddle about in their own affairs without being trifled with. 

The human scrapes up the rest of the blood silently, sniffling as Inseong offers his tentative, silent support from in front of him. Juho doesn’t seem to mind the other’s silence, in fact it almost calms him down, as his hands stop shaking rather quickly just by being around Inseong for a short period of time.

“Let’s go,” the blue haired man murmurs after the floor’s cleaned, standing up. His eyes are dull and lifeless. “You need to get back to the college, I think the assembly’s ending.”

Inseong smiles nervously. “You don’t want to have me come with you? I mean, I’m a witness still.”

“If I’m dead, there’s nobody for a witness to testify against.” The tone of Juho’s voice freezes Inseong, makes his blood run cold as the other approaches the stairs. “Let’s just go. I’ll tell my boss you’re coming with me, but I’ll leave you at the college.”

* * *

Inseong doesn’t make it back to the school in time to catch up to Sanghyuk. The assembly had ended long before he arrived, and Juho had left him alone on the darkened campus. Inseong sighs, shivering in the cold as he stares at the dark building. He can just make out the shape of Juho’s silhouette disappearing behind a cluster of buildings before he’s stepped out of Inseong’s line of sight. 

Through the cold, Inseong walks back towards Sanghyuk’s home, biting back his discomfort. He wills himself forward through the icy air, knowing that where he was going was always warm and comforting. The thought of it keeps his steps light on the pavement, and so when Inseong begins to walk down the street where the buildings get smaller and farther apart, he isn’t surprised. He’s practically home when the buildings become nonexistent, the trees growing larger and the forest denser. One last crosswalk adorns the dead end street he’d turned onto, and Inseong hears the roaring of the ocean nearby. He wants to visit it, but it’s far too cold now. He’d only feel the temperature more if he was to stand in front of the water, he figures. 

He crosses the street, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he enters the small forest path that leads back to Sanghyuk. He fades when he enters the darkness, knowing that any prying eyes would have already lost him under the cover of the dark, and feels lighthearted when he sees the lights of the other’s home up ahead. 

Sanghyuk’s pulse is calm in Inseong’s ears, but it’s too fast for him to be sleeping. He’s just calm, probably watching a program on TV or studying. 

Inseong runs up to the front door, opening it quietly before shutting it behind himself even softer. He hears Sanghyuk speaking distantly from a room away, and curiously follows his voice until he sees the other sitting on his counter, kicking his legs aimlessly as he talks to somebody on the phone. 

“What’s up?”

The conversation had just started; Inseong sits down on the floor, yawning before laying back. Sanghyuk must have vacuumed before he’d gotten back; the wooden panels are spotless and warm, and when Inseong listens carefully he hears the fireplace crackling. He lets out a soft laugh, impressed with Sanghyuk’s sudden maturity. He knew it wouldn’t last, though; the other had rare moments where he’d act like an adult, but the next he’d be on his computer watching some old cartoon he liked as a child, eating something sweet from a colorful package while looking just as young as he had always appeared to be. Inseong found it endearing. 

“What? But it’s gonna be so cold tomorrow, why would you want to go to the beach?” Sanghyuk smiles, but there’s something hidden in his expression. Inseong lifts his head and stares at the other until he can make it out; he’s nervous, unsaid and buried fear digging up through his skin to reveal itself in his face. “Oh… I’ve never been up there, is it nice?”

The conversation ends a few moments after. Sanghyuk doesn’t say much, but Inseong’s too busy analyzing him to hear the words he says. He’s wearing a thick white sweater and black shorts, his sleeves hanging over everything but his fingertips. His shorts end right above his knees, and lower down Inseong notices the black socks Sanghyuk wears, cartoon characters printed all over them. Digimon? Inseong squints, making out one figure he thinks he recognizes; an orange dinosaur looking thing, before he sits back and gives up. 

Sanghyuk sighs, setting his phone down after hanging up the call. He rolls his head back, closing his eyes as he faces the ceiling. “I don’t want to...” He whines, pumping his legs childishly out in front of himself. 

Inseong smiles, raising his eyebrows. He decides not to think about the future; he pretends that life would continue on for him and Sanghyuk normally after the next day, knowing that it would let him live blissfully with Sanghyuk for their remaining time together. “You want to make good memories, don’t you?”

Sanghyuk groans, almost as if responding to Inseong, before letting his legs fall still. He sits forward, jumping down off of the counter before walking towards his room, his phone forgotten next to the sink. Inseong sits up quickly, stumbling as he stands to follow the other. 

“You know,” he starts, slotting his fingers through his hair, “I think Seokwoo’s a good match for you. You’re both morons,” he hums. 

“I don’t like him enough for this.”

Inseong pouts, watching the other fall dejectedly onto his bed. “Man, I don’t like him!” Sanghyuk shouts, putting his hands over his face angrily. “He’s just hot, but there’s like… I can tell he doesn’t like me either! We’re just friends with benefits or some shit!”

Inseong wonders if the other suspects he’s there when he sits up and says, “you know?” to the empty space in front of himself. So, the blonde sits down on the edge of the bed and nods, looking back at Sanghyuk. His suspicions are only confirmed when the other laughs, shaking his head before falling back again. “Shit, now I’m talking to the fucking ghost in my house.”

“Watch your tone, asshole.”

“Sorry.”

“Apology not accepted, fuckhead.”

Inseong and Sanghyuk freeze at the same time. 

Inseong looks down at himself, knows he’s still invisible to the other’s eye, yet Sanghyuk had definitely heard his voice. He knows he did; the ebony haired human sits bolt upright, his eyes wide with horror as his gaze snaps sharply around the room, desperately trying to find whatever had made the sound, had spoken to him.

Sanghyuk slowly eases back, shaking his head softly. “No...” He mumbles, biting his lip. “No, that didn’t happen.” He’s assuring himself it didn’t; he knows it did, knows painfully well that something else is with him in the room, his eyes unable to detect it. 

Inseong frowns, laying down before closing his eyes. “Don’t be a pussy, you know I exist.”

Sanghyuk lays down next to the other, completely unaware that they’re only inches apart. Inseong, however, finds himself fixating on their closeness, an embarrassed flush filling his cheeks with color as he breathes in the scent of the other’s cologne. Sanghyuk’s breath washes evenly over the angel’s neck, and without realizing, Sanghyuk pushes closer to the other as he pulls the blankets up over himself.

Inseong feels like a teenager with a crush again. He grows embarrassed further, turning around to look away from the other as Sanghyuk’s breathing bottoms out, his pulse slowing dramatically as the time goes on. Inseong feels it all as if it’s his own, and in the back of his mind he wonders if he’ll feel Sanghyuk’s death in the way he feels his heartbeat. 

He finds himself unable to fall asleep after the thought hits him, and his eyes stay wide open as he tries to clear his head.

* * *

The next day passes excruciatingly slowly. Inseong feels every breath Sanghyuk takes, unwilling to leave his side even though the other barely even moves from where he lays in bed. Every shift of his leg raises panic in Inseong’s limbs and bones, willing for him to grab the other and protect him from the coming danger neither of them see. 

At any moment, Sanghyuk will die. Inseong will watch, and then kill him again in order to reap his soul. He can’t get over it; he will kill Sanghyuk. It won’t be enough for whoever gave him this position for Inseong to just see the first person he began to care about die, no, he then has to take his last chance at life away from him once again. 

He’s terrified.

The two spend the day inside, curled up under the blankets on Sanghyuk’s bed. Sanghyuk is painfully oblivious as he sips from a plastic water bottle, watching movie after movie as outside rain pelts the windows and wind batters the walls. Inseong, however, can feel every little thing in the room moving. Every atom that shifts between his fingertips he feels, aware of everything that could potentially hurt Sanghyuk. 

How bad would it be if he stopped Death?

Bad. The idea sends a chill down his spine – he couldn’t stop Death. Though, if it gave Sanghyuk a chance to make it out… Even if small, it would be better than nothing, wouldn’t it be? Inseong hates that he considers it, knowing how dangerous the outcomes would become if he were to negate Sanghyuk’s death. But Sanghyuk was Sanghyuk, the boy with a hate for being confined and who still got emotional when he saw sad endings for movies he’d seen twenty times before. He was Sanghyuk, he couldn’t just die.

Inseong glances down at the other’s phone when it lights up, eyes widening at the time. 8:23PM. He hadn’t realized the time had gotten to be so late. 

“Ah...” Sanghyuk frowns, reaching down to grab his phone. It begins ringing a moment after he picks it up, and he closes his eyes and wills himself to answer before he does, sighing out his tension before a smile crosses his face. “Hello?”

“Are you coming? I’m waiting for you.”

Inseong can hear Seokwoo’s voice clearly even though the phone wasn’t on speaker. He frowns, not wanting Sanghyuk to leave the safety of his own home as the other was requesting him to do. “Of course,” Sanghyuk murmurs, “I’m on my way.”

“Great, I’ll see you soon.”

Something’s changed in Seokwoo’s voice; it’s distant, as if he’s disassociated and speaking through the fog of his own mind holding him back. Inseong can’t get it out of his head when the phone call ends, or when Sanghyuk’s standing up to change his clothes. He’s still thinking about how strange Seokwoo sounded as he follows Sanghyuk down to the front door.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Sanghyuk states calmly to the air around him aimlessly, knowing after last night that Inseong was around. “You should tell me not to go.”

“Don’t go.”

Sanghyuk pulls his sneakers on, sighing as he hadn’t heard the other’s voice cut through the silence. Inseong bites back a whimper, feeling useless as he watches the other’s expression drop sadly. “I hope you don’t think any less of me for going to see him.” The room around the two is filled with a misty darkness that filters in through the glass door. “I just can’t say no to him. I should probably get stronger, right?” Sanghyuk laughs, scuffing the toe of his shoe against the floor. “I should stop caring so much about pleasing other people.”

Tears suddenly drip down Sanghyuk’s cheeks. He seems shocked at their sudden appearance as much as Inseong is, and he raises a hand to wipe them away pitifully. “Sorry. You don’t care, I’m just...” He laughs again, his voice cracking. “I guess I’m just being a kid, like always...” 

“Please don’t go,” Inseong whispers, pleads for Sanghyuk to stay. Their conversations are both one sided though they’re staring directly at each other, one unaware and one horribly knowing of what was to come if Sanghyuk was to leave. Inseong doesn’t know how or why he knows, but he’s certain that Seokwoo will play a part in Sanghyuk’s death. “You can’t go.”

“It’s getting late… I should get going,” Sanghyuk murmurs aimlessly, sniffling as he dabs at his eyes with his sleeve. He’d changed into a red hoodie and black jeans, nothing special for him though he still managed to make it look like the best outfit Inseong had seen. Though, the blonde couldn’t care less about what the other was wearing; to him, Sanghyuk always looked like a masterpiece. “I wish you’d say something again.”

Inseong chokes, raising his hand to his mouth to bite his knuckle, holding back a sob. “I don’t want you to go,” he whispers through broken breaths, gasping as he tries to keep himself from crying. “Please don’t go. I don’t want you to go.”

Sanghyuk waits for somebody to say something, the hope draining from his face as easily as it had appeared when he first mentioned Inseong speaking to him. “See you,” he mumbles, turning around. 

Walking towards the door.

Palm resting on the knob.

Opening the door – the cold night air slipping effortlessly inside. 

Stepping outside into the cover of the night. 

Inseong follows him, watching dejectedly as Sanghyuk reaches back and shuts the doors. “It was stupid of me to try.” He grumbles to himself, putting his hood up to avoid the rain soaking him fully. The downpour had stopped, being replaced by a gentle shower that barely rustles the leaves on the surrounding trees. 

Sanghyuk walks down through the forest path, Inseong trailing after him as he waits for something to happen. Anything. 

They leave the woods and cross the street, cutting through an abandoned home’s backyard in order to reach the beach faster. Inseong didn’t know where they were going, only following after Sanghyuk as the other steps from the empty, overgrown backyard onto a small dirt path, leading down to a private entrance to the beach.

Inseong watches Sanghyuk scale a fence separating the path from the sand on the other side, and does the same expertly after Sanghyuk drops down onto the wet, golden sediment. He looks up, gaze traveling from the overcast sky to the cliff that borders the beach on the opposite side of where the two had entered it. Sanghyuk begins walking towards it, and Inseong freezes.

He feels like he knows what’s going to happen, watching the angry waves lap at the base of the cliff. Above, vines and trees grow upwards towards the sky, twisting, gnarling roots digging through the rocks that pile on the sand beneath. The cliff itself must be at least a hundred feet up, maybe more as Inseong cranes his neck to look up at it. 

He follows after Sanghyuk, the shadow of the hill in front of them hanging over the ground they walk on like a warning. 

Sanghyuk looks around curiously before his gaze lands on a path that weaves through the rocks, leading towards the sloping side of the cliff. Inseong had heard in passing that the spot was a common one for students of all kinds to get away for a while, to let loose and drown their troubles under the cover of the sky, hidden atop the cliff. 

Inseong blindly chases after Sanghyuk, the two stepping and sliding dangerously over the slippery rocks as they attempt to get to the path up to the top of the cliff. Inseong ends up there first, stepping past Sanghyuk at one point in order to have a more solid stance in case he had to catch the other if he slipped. 

The cliff is the end of a stretch of a small mountain that borders the town protectively. Though, the trees were so dense and difficult to cut through that there were very few paths to the top. 

Sanghyuk finds his easily, and grabs onto a branch for leverage before beginning to ascend it. Inseong worries his fingers over his collar, following the other up hesitantly. At first glance, the path is messy and tangled, but upon entering the cover of the trees, the carved hollow that leads up to the top of the cliff isn’t as bad as it had once appeared.

It only takes a matter of minutes for Sanghyuk to near the top, but he stops suddenly, staring up at it hopelessly. It’s as if for a brief moment, he feels his future, debates whether or not he wants to proceed.

He continues walking cautiously, his footfalls heavy on the soaked earth underneath his sneakers. 

When he and Inseong finally arrive at the small round clearing, Seokwoo and Jaeyoon are there to greet them. Though, Jaeyoon sits against a tree with his eyes closed, his eyelids twitching as if his eyes dart around underneath them violently. 

Seokwoo stands up from where he’d been sitting on a thick root of the same tree Jaeyoon rests under, smiling as he approaches Sanghyuk. “You made it up okay,” he murmurs, leaning down to plant a gentle kiss against the other’s lips. “Fuck, you’re warm.” The taller whines, pulling Sanghyuk’s arms around himself before crouching down to slip his own arms around the other’s waist. 

They stand like that for a moment, Seokwoo burying his face against Sanghyuk’s neck for a moment in an attempt to warm himself up, holding the other closer to himself. 

Sanghyuk laughs, shifting slightly in the other’s grip before Seokwoo picks him up. Immediately, his laugh falls short, and is instead replaced by a small “Seokwoo?”

Seokwoo looks Inseong in the eyes and smiles as he takes a step backwards. 

Towards the edge of the cliff.

“Seokwoo,” Sanghyuk sees the edge come closer with each of the other’s steps, and begins struggling to escape the other’s grip feverishly, “hey, knock it off!”

The two pause near the ledge, and Seokwoo spins around so he’s the one on the inside. Inseong’s feet feel like they’re glued to the dirt, unable to react as he watches Seokwoo’s grip on Sanghyuk loosen.

“Seokwoo really liked you,” the brunette hums, and Inseong watches the confusion hit Sanghyuk in waves. 

“What the fuck are you saying?” The younger’s feet just barely drag on the ground beneath him – Seokwoo’s keeping him just high enough to keep him out of control. “Quit fucking around, Seokwoo.”

“Right, sorry.”

Seokwoo lets Sanghyuk’s shoes touch the edge of the cliff, and he slowly begins to set the other down. “Seokwoo didn’t want to hurt you, but I need to trade a soul for a body, so...” 

The moment Sanghyuk’s sneakers hit the ground, Seokwoo shoves him off the edge of the cliff. 

Jaeyoon gasps when he wakes up, his eyes shooting open the moment Seokwoo’s thrown backwards after shoving Sanghyuk. The brunette raises his hands, screaming before clawing his way back to the ledge. 

Inseong can’t even feel himself moving, just feels a cold sensation where the wind whips against him as he runs, fading into existence before lunging off of the edge of the cliff. 

His lungs scream for air as it’s torn from them, the sudden intensity of falling burning his eyes and causing them to tear up. His hands shoot out immediately for the human, whose lips are parted in silent shock, his body still as it plummets towards the water beneath him. 

The waves are black in the darkness of the night, swirling angrily as they bash deafeningly loud against the rock that’s now only about seventy feet beneath the two falling. Against the sound of the wind ripping violently past Inseong’s ears, though, he can barely hear the ocean beneath. 

Inseong reaches for Sanghyuk, meeting him halfway to the water before he manages to wrap his hands around the human’s arms. He flips their positions, his own back now sacrificed to the harsh waters before he feels his wings tear through his skin. He tries not to scream out in pain, feeling his shoulder blades burn as the wings that had been hidden beneath for so long unfurl themselves and are immediately subjected to the torment of the fall. 

When the two hit the water, Inseong wraps his wings protectively around Sanghyuk, keeping the human anchored to himself as they sink. He holds his breath even though he has none remaining to keep in his lungs, and feels a fire light in his chest and spine as he kicks blindly towards what he hopes is the surface.

Sanghyuk’s still in his grasp, and when Inseong’s head finally breaks the surface he chokes on the breaths he inhales, forcing Sanghyuk against himself tighter as he holds his head above the waves. The human’s pulse thrums violently in Inseong’s head, and all the angel can focus on is that he’s still alive. Both of them are. E lets out a soft cry, cradling the other against himself tightly. “You’re okay,” he breathes, his legs thrashing underneath him in an attempt to keep the two up. His wings hang in the water behind him, soaked and heavy as the water toys with them. 

“You’re okay,” he repeats, looking around through the darkness to hopefully find a way out of the water. The cliff hung far over the water, the shore seeming too far to be possible to swim to. He tries to avoid the current that draws him towards the base of the cliff, not wanting to end up smashed against the stone by the strong waves. He guides Sanghyuk further upwards in his arms, feeling the unconscious human’s head fall against his shoulder as he begins swimming with one hand in an attempt to bring them towards the shore. 

It doesn’t work – obviously. They barely get ten feet before another current drags them back, pulling them into the underside of a wave as it barrels towards the cliff. They’re forced underneath the black water, and for a brief moment Inseong’s grip on Sanghyuk is torn away. 

He reaches blindly for the human in the water, feeling his fingers brush against his shirt for just a second before he’s gone again. Inseong’s head breaks the surface and he screams for Sanghyuk, his head being forced under again by the devilish waters. 

Sanghyuk’s pulse grows fainter in Inseong’s ears, and his eyes burn from the water when he opens them. He can’t see anything, but when his head raises above the surface he can faintly make out a shape nearby. In a frenzied panic, he swims towards it, finally clutching Sanghyuk’s shirt once again tightly in his fist. 

“Fuck,” he breathes, dragging Sanghyuk back into his arms. He tries to fold his wings back into his skin but he can’t, and the horrible realization that they’re likely broken crosses his mind. He keeps them opened in the water, feeling Sanghyuk shudder in his arms. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, drawing the other closer to himself. He’s so full of adrenaline he can’t feel the cold air, or how it freezes his hair ever so slightly. He can’t even begin to imagine how cold it is on Sanghyuk, whose body must be numbed from the shock and fear that had overtaken it before he passed out. 

The shore seems just a bit closer now. Inseong looks back, hearing the roaring of another approaching wave before forcing one hand over Sanghyuk’s nose and mouth, the other clutching his clothes as tightly as he can before they’re thrown underneath the water again.

Inseong gasps, inhaling a mouthful of water before it hits his lungs. He struggles to the surface, fighting through the water before he’s able to cough and not breathe in any more water. 

He drops his hand from Sanghyuk’s face, letting the other breathe once again as they meet the surface. He gags, choking and spitting up water as soon as he can. “Please,” he gasps, “don’t let him die here.”

Sanghyuk moves slightly in Inseong’s grip. At first, the angel thinks it’s just the water shifting him from side to side, but his groggy voice cuts through the berating ocean and lets Inseong know that he’s still holding on. “What…?”

“Just hold on,” Inseong whispers, and feels a current begin to drag them backwards. “Hold your breath.” He instructs, shaking Sanghyuk slightly to wake him up further. “Hold your breath,” he repeats before they’re pulled underneath another wave. Sanghyuk, this time, keeps his hands locked around Inseong, arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders.

They surface a moment later, and Inseong feels overwhelmed when he looks back towards the shore to see that they haven’t gotten much closer. “We’re fucked.” He hisses, adjusting Sanghyuk in his arms before beginning to swim towards the small stretch of golden sand waiting for them. 

Sanghyuk stays silent, his head resting in the crook of Inseong’s shoulder and neck. “It’s cold,” he whimpers, and Inseong bites back a soft cry. He’s worried, but he’s more relieved than anything that Sanghyuk’s okay and will remain okay for as long as they’re together. He wouldn’t let the other die, not now, and certainly not when they got back to shore. 

“I’ll get us out of here,” he promises, looking up to see the shore coming just slightly closer. He lets out a soft sigh, hearing another wave behind them coming quickly yet again.

Before he can tell the other to hold his breath, Sanghyuk whispers to him. “Let it take us,” he mumbles against the other’s skin. “It’ll push us closer.”

Inseong nods, and turns to face the wave as soon as he feels Sanghyuk hold his breath. He pulls his own lips together tightly before forcing himself into the wave blindly, feeling it overpower him instantly. It takes five seconds before they’re thrown from the wave, and Inseong gasps for air, hearing Sanghyuk do the same against him. 

When he looks up, the shore is just barely out of grasp. He has to assume it’s fifty yards now, and cries out with relief, half pushing and half dragging Sanghyuk towards it. 

Another wave comes, and after repeating the same method Inseong had done previously, he feels something solid hit his leg. 

They surface and Inseong looks up to see that they have to be ten yards away now. He tightens his grip on Sanghyuk and continues swimming until he’s able to feel the bottom beneath him, and then he’s standing, struggling forward as he drags his wings behind himself and carries Sanghyuk in his arms. 

The current pulls him backwards when another wave approaches, but by the time it reaches the two it just smashes against Inseong’s back weakly, causing him to scream when he finally feels the pain in his shoulders. It’s blinding; Inseong sees stars in his vision when it hits him. 

“Come on,” Sanghyuk encourages, dropping down from the other’s arms to walk for himself. He winces, not applying full pressure to one of his legs as he limps towards the sand, “we’re so close, come on.” 

Inseong nods, locking one of his hands around Sanghyuk’s as they struggle to the shore. Inseong only collapses when they’re standing finally on solid ground once again, the chances of them being dragged back into the water next to nothing. Sanghyuk falls next to him, panting as he pulls his leg to his chest and whimpers. 

“You did so well,” Inseong gasps, reaching out to place a hand against the other’s cheek, “you did so well.” He repeats the phrase, hand brushing against the other’s cheek repeatedly as the two lay on the sand, saturated with seawater and soaked in pain. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello  
hi  
i havent written ending notes in such a long time omggg its so sad anyway HIIIIIII i hope ur enjoying this fic so far <3333333333 and im so sorry if ure not  
i love you :(((( thank u so so so so so much for reading and keeping up with this fic, im sorry that updates became few and far between but hopefully ill be able to update this fic much more frequently now!! yay :D  
thank u sooooo much for reading <3 i hope ure having an amazing morning/day/night, and if ure not then tell me and i promise u i will do my best to make it better for u ur happiness is all i want in this world  
i love u ! thank u ! my social medias are linked below if u want to yell at me or call me a stupid bitch or sumn idrk I LOVE UUUUU THANK U SO MUCHHHHHH :DDD <333  
\- Elise
> 
> twt: twitter.com/blossomfic  
cc: curiouscat.me/blossomfic


	6. trust the fall

Death coils around Inseong as he hurriedly carries Sanghyuk back towards his home. He can taste it in the air, smell the sweetness lingering on the wind each time it blows past him. The world is silent with a soaked, dripping anticipation, anxiously waiting for the Reaper who follows Inseong to become tired of the game it’s playing and grab the angel and steal the human away from him.

Sanghyuk hadn’t said a word since he’d fallen next to Inseong in the sand, he’d moved his eyes, parting his lips around words he couldn’t get out through his chattering teeth, but he never spoke. Inseong wonders if the other feels Death like he does, silently whispering with anguish through the leaves of the trees as Inseong steals away what rightfully belongs to it. 

Behind them, a Reaper follows. Inseong had watched it watching them through the front gate of the fence on the beach. After picking up Sanghyuk for the second time, he’d turned and locked eyes with the black silhouette staring back at him, and he’d ran. 

Now, he’s slowed to a jog, the pain in his back and shoulders unbearable; though when Inseong weighed Sanghyuk’s life, the pain became increasingly tolerable and he sped up his pace, turning every so often to make sure they weren’t being followed at a close distance.

He knew it was coming, but he didn’t know how long he had to get Sanghyuk to safety before it would catch up to them. 

Sanghyuk’s home stretches up in front of them, rising from the dirt and shrubs of the forest like a hidden gem. Inseong lets out a soft, relieved breath, adjusting Sanghyuk in his arms before he runs to the front door, forcing it open with his shoulder roughly. 

“It’s okay,” he whispers to Sanghyuk, who just nods weakly against him, “it’ll be fine now.” He kicks the door shut, reaching down to lock it before painfully carrying the other to the bathroom, setting him down finally against the side of the bathtub. “Here,” Inseong murmurs, leaning past him to turn on the hot water. “Get out of these clothes and get warmed up.”

Sanghyuk looks up to him, nodding. His face is pale, and the skin underneath his red eyes is darkened as if he hadn’t slept in weeks. Inseong takes in a sharp, shuddering breath before turning towards the door, peeking outside to make sure they were still alone in the home.

“Are you gonna need help?”

“I’m fine.”

Inseong nods, looking back after a minute to see the other standing, pulling his shirt over his head. He turns away quickly, apologizing before stepping out of the room, shutting the door behind himself softly. 

Every light he passes he turns off, knowing it would be better for him to be clueless in the dark than to let anything outside see him inside. Blindly he makes his way to the kitchen, listening carefully to the sounds of the home to make sure nothing was out of place.

The only sound is the muffled pouring of water from a faucet in the bathroom, and tentatively Inseong relaxes his ever-tensing shoulders, finding a knife from inside the cutlery drawer before making his way back to Sanghyuk. He wasn’t worried about the windows being unlocked; they got stuck often and were unreliable to open, and virtually impossible to nudge open from the outside. 

He gently raps his knuckle against the bathroom door when he gets back to it, announcing that he was coming back in before doing so. He steps backwards into the room, locking the door before hesitantly glancing over his shoulder. 

Sanghyuk has his eyes closed, but he’s awake. When Inseong shifts the knife in his hands he cracks his eyes open to look at him.

“What’s that for?”

He doesn’t sound nervous; he knows the weapon isn’t for him. Inseong sets it down on the sink, reaching over to grab a bottle of shampoo before pouring a decent amount of it underneath the running water. Sanghyuk scrunches his nose up distastefully at him. “Dude, that was like half of the bottle.”

Inseong feels a sudden swell of anxiety in his chest when he realizes what he’d done. The consequences he couldn’t run from come piling in on him, clenching his throat tighter and tighter until he’s barely breathing.

Sanghyuk’s death would now be on his hands, and his status would be revoked the moment Seokjin found out about the denial of fate. At the thought of his wings being torn from his skin, he turns to notice that they’d vanished. 

Inseong blows out a harsh breath, sitting down against the bathtub, his back facing Sanghyuk. The other gasps, and something disturbs the water before Inseong feels a cold hand press against his back gently. 

He hisses, lurching forward in an attempt to break the contact. He whips his head around, pouting. “What was that for?”

“You’re all bruised,” Sanghyuk has worry in his eyes. “Is that because of me?”

“No,” Inseong shakes his head, pausing. “Why are you acting like that?”

“Like what?”

“You're just so talkative, this isn’t like you at all.”

“You don’t know how I usually am.”

Inseong scoffs, turning away before leaning back against the tub. He’s grateful that Sanghyuk was finding his strength again, and that he’d stopped shaking from the cold, but he knew that worse was in store for them. “Sanghyuk, just trust me when I say that I know a lot about you that you’d probably be shocked about.”

The other becomes silent, and before he can say anything Inseong cuts him off. “Don’t try and guess what I am or why I’ve been around you, okay?” He doesn’t want to lie to him anymore - Inseong knows that if he can’t talk his way out of this situation, perform a miracle like he silently prays he can, he’ll never see Sanghyuk again. “We’ll both get killed if you say it.”

Again, he gets no response, and Inseong leans back and closes his eyes. 

The water turns off a moment later, and the room grows quiet. Inseong cautiously opens an eye before reaching up to flick the light off. “I can’t get into it, as much as I want to,” Inseong lies through his teeth, knowing he’d want nothing more than to stay silent on why Sanghyuk had a Reaper coming to kill him, “but somebody’s after us.”

“That’s what the knife’s for?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re name isn’t really Seokjin, is it?” Inseong can hear the smile in Sanghyuk’s voice, and he chuckles softly at the other’s question.

“No, it’s not.”

“Inseong?”

“Yeah.”

His heart jumps - Inseong has broken every possible rule he can think of except one. 

He closes his eyes again, sinking back against the porcelain tub. He doesn’t want to lose Sanghyuk, he doesn’t. There has to be a way he can work around the rules, there  _ have _ to be loopholes he just isn’t seeing. Angels are stupid;  _ he’s _ stupid. He knows there has to be something.

Would a demon being involved change things? Inseong bites his lip, worrying his teeth over the plush skin before it snaps back. If he could convince them that he’d done the right thing by saving Sanghyuk because it prevented a demon from being able to gain a physical form, then… Inseong figures it’s all he has, it’s the one fact he knows might be able to sway the Reaper’s decision.

It may save Sanghyuk, but likely not himself. He’d still broken another rule; one that seems difficult to measure from a third party. 

He stands up finally, reaching over to the sink to grab the knife. He flicks the light back on, looking at himself in the mirror as he begins pacing the room. 

Sanghyuk looks up to him, his skin slowly regaining its color. He coughs, and Inseong winces at the rough sound of it. “You’re probably gonna get sick,” he states, and Sanghyuk raises his eyebrows.

“Wow, you’re good…” He quips, but his tone drops as he shrugs. “It could be worse, we could be dead.”

Inseong feels like he’s going to throw up. He squeezes his hands into fists, the handle of the knife heavy and uncomfortable when he tightens his grip on it. Sanghyuk dunks his head back underneath the water, sitting up after a moment, the water dripping down his face sullenly. 

Sanghyuk lays back in the water, his hair covered in soft loops of soap and bubbles that surround his throat like possessive hands, encircling him with each breath he takes. Inseong sighs, sitting down against the wall next to the door. 

They both jolt upwards when something slams violently into the door, something like claws beginning to scratch and dig against the thin layer of wood that separates Inseong and Sanghyuk from whatever IT is. Inseong stares wide eyed, and Sanghyuk reaches for one of the shampoo bottles on the side of the bath, holding it like he would a baseball bat. 

“Do you think it knows we’re here?” The human whispers. Inseong would find his obliviousness cute if his life wasn’t on the line.

“No,” Inseong growls sarcastically, “it’s just scratching on the door for no fucking reason, Sanghyuk.”

“Don’t make fun of me!” Sanghyuk hisses back. Inseong raises a hand to silence him, the scratching and incessant pulling on the door having stopped moments before. He listens closely, but can’t hear anything other than the barely audible humming of the fluorescent lightbulb above him in the ceiling. Sanghyuk’s breath plays into the background noise, as well, and his pulse plays an uncomfortably quick beat in the back of Inseong’s head. 

Somebody knocks on the door, and Inseong grips the knife tighter, stepping in front of the door in case it suddenly swung open. Nobody says anything, and Inseong realizes just how fucked the two locked inside the room were. They were trapped, cornered in a room where the window was far too small to break out of. 

Inseong reaches for the doorknob. Sanghyuk purses his lips before staring at him as if he’d just proposed they beat up a small child for the sake of stealing from them. 

When his fingers twist around the lock, Inseong hears something growling on the other side of the door, and he closes his eyes before mouthing a silent plead to let Sanghyuk see the light of the next day. 

He opens the door a crack, looking out to see a man standing with his hands shoved in his pockets standing in front of the door. Inseong can’t see what had been growling, knowing the low animalistic sound hadn’t come from the man. 

“I have a valid explanation for this,” Inseong begins, and the man raises an eyebrow.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

The blonde looks back at Sanghyuk before turning to the stranger once again, whispering a low, “are you going to kill him if I get out of the way?”

The man looks horrified. Then he smiles. “Yeah.”

“Then we can talk but I’m staying in the doorway.”

Inseong takes the next silent moment to analyze the other - he has dark hair that sweeps across his face, his bangs messy after they part in the center of his forehead. His eyes are clear and dark, though Inseong’s sure he sees a faint red glow around them. 

He’s wearing clothes that Inseong would honestly expect Sanghyuk to wear; the other looks terrifyingly normal. He didn’t look like a Reaper, and Inseong wonders if they all looked as young and ruffled as the man standing in front of him. 

In all honesty, he could pass as a college student easily. He looks tired, though there’s a silent, waning resolve behind his gaze. It could crack and vanish at any moment, but for now it hadn’t, and it refuses to waver as it stares back at Inseong. 

The front door creaks open, and the Reaper’s head snaps towards it. Inseong follows his gaze, albeit slowly, not sure if it was a trick to distract him.

“Taeyang, are you done?”

“Youngkyun, what the fuck did I say about waiting outside?”

The name’s familiar to Inseong, but he can’t remember why until Sanghyuk’s reaching for a towel, gasping. Youngkyun was on Seokwoo’s swim team, Inseong remembers catching a glimpse of him at the assembly chatting with Youngbin and Seokwoo. But, from somewhere else it’s familiar as well, and the thought gnaws on Inseong’s mind as he tries to remember from where.

“It’s cold!” The other whines, “and Chanhee-”

“-Youngkyun!” Taeyang shouts suddenly, eyes widening. Inseong’s widen as well, and he stumbles forward, catching himself on the door frame before he looks back to Taeyang. 

“Chanhee?” He breathes, raising his eyebrows. Taeyang freezes. Youngkyun hesitantly continues, unsure of what else to do in the situation; he hadn’t been briefed on Reaper/Angel conduct in the past. 

“He wants to go home.” Youngkyun finishes his prior statement, pursing his lips as he looks at Taeyang. "And I kinda do too. It's late, and we have Monopoly at home... Kinda want to play Monopoly with you guys."

“He wants to go  _ home _ ,” Inseong repeats, turning to stare at Taeyang. 

Chanhee, the angel who had been revoked and cast to live eternally in purgatory, wanted to go  _ home _ . 

Inseong remembers Youngkyun then, realizing slowly that he had been Chanhee’s original ward. His eyes widen, and he feels a smile break onto his face. He’s in blissful disbelief; Taeyang had either dragged a fallen angel from purgatory or he’d found him and not sent him back - both of which Inseong figures are equally as bad for him as the rules Inseong had broken with Sanghyuk are. 

After all, Reapers were the only figures able to travel between purgatory and the living world, it made sense there needed to be strict rules on them to keep those from purgatory  _ in _ purgatory. 

“That’s funny, though,” Inseong starts, unable to keep the grin off his face. He doesn’t feel as threatened as he had before, knowing now what Taeyang had been hiding behind a literal closed door from him. “I could’ve sworn that Chanhee was-”

“-Okay!” Taeyang shouts, eyes alight with rage as he turns towards Inseong. “I get it! Yeah, shut up!”

It’s only in that moment that Inseong sees how young the other is; he couldn’t have died past the age of eighteen; roughly the same age Inseong himself had been, if he remembers it correctly. There’s a childlike anger flashing across Taeyang’s face as his secrets unveil themselves in the form of Youngkyun and Chanhee standing across the house from the two in the dark doorway. 

Taeyang takes a step back, and Inseong notices the bright yellow eyes darting around his legs in the darkness when he does so. The Reaper barks out a command, and immediately the eyes still next to his thigh as whatever hellish creature that he controlled sits down, obediently staring at Inseong, waiting for the command to lunge. 

“What do I have to give you to keep your mouth shut?”

Inseong’s eyes widen. “Help me save Sanghyuk.”

Incredulously, Taeyang raises an eyebrow. “You don’t want to save yourself?”

“Of course not.”

“You love him?”

Inseong knows that whatever he tells the other is only going to help him; if Taeyang threatened to tell anybody, Inseong could simply remind them of Chanhee and request for somebody to check on his status in purgatory. He turns to make sure Sanghyuk hadn’t heard the question, looking away quickly when he decides he hadn’t. 

“Yeah.”

“Then I’ll help you save him," Taeyang starts, reaching down to occupy himself with petting the creature sitting at his side, "but you’re gonna be fucked.”

* * *

Inseong sits across from Seokjin at his desk, looking down at the wood as Taeyang speaks to the archangel from where he stands next to him. He feels like a child being scolded, his parents speaking angrily of his crimes above him.

Though, instead of speaking about breaking a lamp or insulting a classmate, the two are discussing the rules he’d broken by saving Sanghyuk. And instead of being his parents, they’re two exhausted men who were only awake because of the amount of coffee they’d been drinking since the meeting began earlier that night. 

Taeyang and Inseong had left to talk to Seokjin almost immediately after agreeing to help each other, neither of them wanting to waste any time. 

And, to Inseong’s relief, Taeyang had held up his end of the deal too easily. He’d murmured something about how Sanghyuk living helped bypass a potential infestation, and Seokjin hadn’t batted an eye. 

Sanghyuk would live, but Inseong knew what was coming to him almost immediately after Seokjin had taken a forlorn look at him. There was no way he would be able to get out of being revoked. Or, if they deemed it, obliteration. Though, that was a rare punishment, so Inseong knew he likely wouldn't have to worry about it.

“Sorry I’m late, got caught up with something.”

Taeyang glances back towards the doorway, waving slightly at the newcomer. “It’s fine, we’re just finishing up now.”

When Inseong looks up, he understands immediately why Taeyang had wanted to keep him silent on Youngkyun and Chanhee.

“Youngbin, what do you think we should do here?” Seokjin glances up at the man who had stepped into the room, who gives Inseong no attention whatsoever as he steps to Seokjin’s side.

Taeyang, Inseong had come to find out, had fallen in love with Youngkyun the same way Chanhee had. And upon finding out that Youngkyun was still in love with Chanhee, Taeyang had decided that Youngkyun’s happiness was more important before dragging the youngest back with him to the living world. 

Him falling in love with Youngkyun had been a risk in and of itself, but bringing Chanhee back was a death wish. Youngkyun and Youngbin had a close relationship, as well, Inseong’s shocked that Taeyang was able to hide himself and Chanhee for so long with Youngbin around their third party constantly, whether it be for swim team or because they were classmates.

“Well, obliteration seems harsh,” Youngbin notes, reading over the notes Seokjin had been taking on his desktop. The archangel worriedly looks to Inseong once again as Youngbin’s distracted by his computer. “I mean, he  _ did _ stop a demon from taking Sanghyuk’s soul, but at the same time it wasn’t his choice to make.” Youngbin glances up, looking at Inseong. “What was your role in Sanghyuk’s life?”

“I didn’t really have one,” Inseong murmurs, “I just watched him from a distance to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid.”

Youngbin nods. “Does he know what you are?”

“No.” Inseong remembers everything Taeyang had told him to say in an instant, and recites it quickly. “He passed out just before he hit the water, and I was able to get him back h-... To his house,” he corrects himself, not feeling comfortable referring to Sanghyuk’s house as  _ home _ to Youngbin, “without him waking up.”

“Is he awake now?”

“Judging from his pulse, no.”  _ That _ was true. Sanghyuk had been tired; Inseong ushered him to his room to change and go to bed after he’d wrapped a towel around himself when Taeyang agreed to help them. “He’s still out.”

Youngbin nods again, looking back towards the screen. He glances at Seokjin. “We have to revoke him.”

“But-”

“There’s no other option.”

Inseong isn’t afraid. Not when Seokjin tries to talk him through what’s going to happen, or when Youngbin leaves the room and comes back with a glass of water and a pill, setting them both down in front of Inseong before ordering him to take the small white capsule. 

He knows what’s going to happen to him. Inseong picks up the pill and pushes it past his lips, swallowing it dry before chasing it with the water. Taeyang watches him, stepping away from Seokjin to instead stand next to the other angel, placing an apologetic hand on his shoulder in an attempt to make sure the other felt less alone. He isn’t afraid when his vision blackens at the edges minutes later, the world swimming in and out of focus as he stares forward at the desk, remaining silent as he had throughout most of the hours the meeting had taken place.

He’s not afraid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> boop boop beep hi  
im like sick and. yeah. its not fun i miss summer :( anyway! this  
okay :0  
i love you!! thank you for reading <33333 imsorry im, who i am as a person. i love angst its coming.  
i love uuuu so much, thank u soooooo much:((( please have a good rest of your day/night!! if its late go to bed! if youre procrastinating go do your work! if youre just vibing keep vibing! i love u  
-elise 
> 
> my cc if you want to yell at me anonymously: @blossomfic  
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